As History Repeats
by magicmumu
Summary: Just like her predecessor before, Batgirl gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse with a mysterious stranger, while her protege' has her own mystery to solve. This story is AU. Femslash warning: Batgirl/Huntress, Gabbby/Dinah UPDATED 8/1/13
1. Chapter 1

As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

Fandom: Birds of Prey TV (AU)

Pairing: Huntress/Batgirl kiss

Rating: PG-13 for Huntress' sexiness

Summary: Just like her predisessor before, Batgirl gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse with a mysterious stranger.

I don't own anything. I am just playing with them for now. I am just playing with them because the WB/CW dropped them liked they're hot (and they are).

Note: This was somewhat but not really inspired by the sight of Dina Meyer on TV twice in one day. Once on an old episode of Friends and a newer one of her on Burn Notice. All I can say to that is Yikesabee. Here's to my first BoP story in like over a year. Definately not my best.

Barbara Gordon tightened the grappling hook and swung from the top of the Wayne Enterprises building down towards the New Gotham Bank headquarters. She could hear only her own breathing and the air that whooshed past her ears as she made the landing, and a flick of her wrist reeled the hook back to her quickly and silently. She waited for a moment. Then she heard, Batgirl, the target is approaching from the northeast. Estimated time, 35 or 40 seconds.

Thanks for the heads up, Oracle.

Please becareful this time. You know how she is.

Yes, I know. And Gabby? There was a silence, as she figured there would be. She knew how much her young protege' hated her name being said over the communication system. You're doing really well.

Um, thanks. Alfred says he's got cheesecake in the refridgerator, so that should be an incentive for you to be careful.

Barbara chuckled at the stressed words of the young blonde teen in her ear. Ever since the year before when she accidentally found out her secret and had come under her mentorship, Gabby never ceased to make her laugh, even though it wasn't the right time whenever she did. It always made her laugh whenever she heard the teen caution her and act like she was the mentor and Batgirl the protoge', like in her younger days with Batman. The thought of Batman stopped her laughter. She felt her blood boil as it often did when she though of him and Bruce Wayne, how he just disappeared. When she found out that Catwoman was nowhere to be found either, it took all of a second to realize what had happened. Hurt and abandoned, especially after Robin became Nightwing, she spent a few years alone being reckless with her duties as Batgirl, but after Gabby found out who she really was as she snuck back into her classroom after a hostage situation and took her cowl off just as Gabby came in for her Lituature class early, she began to take things seriously again, and she orgainized te way she fought crime. Gabby had promised to keep her mouth shut, and had done well for many months until a time came and she had to call on Gabby's help when she was too far from the Batcave and she needed a place to hide. Since then, she knew she could trust Gabby. There was something about her that reminded her so much of herself. She had no metahuman powers, no tortured past, and was as close to normal as could be, and Barbara had liked that. A few months ago she had allowed for Gabby to see the Batcave after a long time of talking in code about her secret, and Gabby insisted that she wanted to help in some way. Not wanting for Gabby to be out there in the middle of everything like she was at 16, she had the young woman watch the monitors, and she did really well. She was proud of how quickly Gabby caught on, and she gave her the code name of Oracle just recently.

The sound of movement caught her attention and she looked around. "What a nice night for a run-in with the littlest bat," a familiar voice said in what could only be described as a purr. Considering who it belonged to, she wasn't surprised. Barbara put a finger to her comm earing and turned it off, something else she knew would piss off Gabby.

"You're to talk, Kitten," she said back. There was a small chuckle, and then Barbara found herself face to face with slitted eyes and dark leather. Barbara searched the woman quickly and saw that there was nothing under her arm as usual, as was always the case with their run-ins, but the cocky smirk was always there. Barbara had known of the woman's lineage before her protoge had gone missing a few years back, but he always denied it when she had seen the feline duo on a heist. She had known that at first this cat-like woman had gone with them when Batman and Catwoman diappeared, and they had been a little family for a while before she had suddenly come back. Why, Barbara didn't know. All she knew was that the Huntress knew where they went, and so far she wasn't saying anything.

"Oh Batgirl, in this moonlight, you look good enough to eat." the dark woman purred as she looked the hero up and down with obvious appretiation of her form.

"You know the deal. I want to know where your mother and Batman went." Barbara tried to look away, but she knew she never would be able to.

"Not even a little taste?" she asked. Barbara backed up at this. Every time it was the same sort of thing. "Too bad. I was really feeling a connection between us tonight." Huntress said. She was lying and both women knew it. Perhaps if they had the chance to fight a little, but the Huntress hadn't stolen anything that night from the looks of it, so she wondered why the feline woman was even there if she hadn't been on a heist. Perhaps she was about to.

"Too bad," Barbara echoed. After a moment of silence, she asked, "Why won't you tell me where they are? I know that you know."

The feline woman seemed to actually think about this for a moment, and in a foolish moment, Barbara thought that perhaps then would be the night that she got a clue or even a deal from her. She was, of course, wrong. "I might tell you... If you can catch me." With that, she ran and jumped from the roof. Barbara knew that she wouldn't be hurt by the fall. She hurried to the edge, calculated the distance of the nearest fire escape, and Barbara followed after her. She knew that she could easily make large jumps that gave her a lead, but the Huntress perposely stayed just barely out of reach. Finally, they got near the city's Clocktower, and Helena made one really large leap, which seemed to be a struggle for her to get to the gargoyle that was there. She had to climb the wall a little bit to make it. Barbara looked up and knew that her chords would just barely make it, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to be up there. That was the tallest spot of the entire city, and if she fell from there, she was sure to die. She had no garentees that the Huntress wouldn't fight her up there, or tamper with her cables while she tried to reach her. When she looked again, she didn't see the dark woman, and she took the chance.

Once at the top, she couldn't see anything or anyone. "There is nowhere else for you to go," Barbara stated to the night.

"Nowhere for you, either."

"Touche'," Barbara said, walking slowly away from the edge and looking around her. "You said you'd tell me where Batman and Catwoman went."

Huntress appeared out of the shadows with a Cheshire Cat-like grin on her face. "I said I MIGHT tell you, IF you could catch me. You have yet to even catch me."

"Seeing as there really isn't anywhere for either of us to go, can't you just consider yourself caught? Where did they go? Why did you come back to this place of all places?"

The Huntress turned away from her slightly as she looked out over the city in thought. Then she looked back at Barbara, and with the moon reflecting her eyes, she looked absolutely creepy, yet alluring at the same time. "I can promise you that where they are, they are happy," she said softly, almost fondly. She walked closer to the hero and placed a hand on the cowl-less skin of Barbara's face. "As for why I'm here.... I'm here because I'm happy, too." The Huntress took possession of Batgirl's lips before the redhead could back away, and then walked quickly over to the gargoyle. "That is all that I can tell you. Please do not ask me anymore, Batgirl. I've made a promise not to say anything."

"You promised your mother?" Barbara asked as she recovered from the kiss.

"I promised Batman," Huntress countered. This left Batgirl speechless again. "Until we meet again, Babybat," the feline woman murmured. With that, Huntress looked down and then carefully climbed down the side a little before she let herself fall. Barbara turned and looked at the gargoyles and wondered if in another life they might not be so creepy to her. She then went to the wall and reached behind one of the shrubs on the balcony where there was a small button. The door to the side of the Clockface opened and she ran through the dark to the elevator and hurried out of there. As she recalled, there was cheesecake and a very pissed off teen waiting for her at home.


	2. Chapter 2

As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

Chapter 2

*I am just experimenting with these story, as it is AU, and I am not sure if I will ever finish it. I had a couple of people who thought it was a series that I had started. Plus, I just got an idea for continuing on with it, but who knows.*

Gabby didn't talk to her right away when Barbara walked into the Batcave and took off her cowl. This was to be expected. The redhead waited for the teen to explode at her, and was surprised when she left her spot at the Delphi and went to the manor's entrance. She put in the code and went into the elevator, waiting for Barbara to join her before she entered the floor for the manor. "Gabby, I know you're angry at-"

"Don't go there, Barbara," Gabby said, cutting her off. "You're an adult... the mentor here, not me. But let me tell you something. I am too new at this to know what to do in case of emergency. If something happens to you, and I don't know where you are because you turned off the comms, there is nothing I can do to help you. I could probably call Nightwing, but he is too far away, and even after traveling the two hours to get here, he'd have to scour the city looking for you, and by the time he even knows where you are, it'd probably be too late," she rambled. "So... I'm getting cheesecake because Alfred wouldn't serve any until you got back, and then I'm going home. My mother thinks I am babysitting for the Fern family again." Gabby said this last part of her rant a little softly, and Barbara nodded, feeling chastized.

"I am sorry."

"Sure," Gabby responded, making no attempts to hide her disbelief of the apology. The two entered the kitchesn where Alfred was cleaning the last of the baking pans used for his treats.

"Nice hunt tonight, Miss Barbara?" Alfred asked as he set his sponge down and rinced off his hands. He then went to the refridgerator and got out a bottled water and the dish which held the cheesecake.

"As nice as interacting with Catwoman's daughter can be. She wasn't even on a heist. She was just playing a game with me," Barbara replied, slightly frustrated. She refused to let herself think of the kiss between them.

"I find it surprising the lengths at which some people might go to get one's attention," Alfred said absently. He sliced two peices of cheesecake, one slightly bigger than the other, and gave the bigger peice to Gabby. The teen smirked at him.

"Thanks," Gabby said, digging into it even before it was completely set on the table. She knew that she wouldn't finish the peice of cheesecake he gave her, and that Alfred was trying to calm the tension she felt, the anger at her mentor that was there. For the most part, it helped. She knew Barbara was looking at her, watching her reactions.

"You gonna be mad at me all night?"

"Meh-be," Gabby said stubbornly around her cheesecake, looking at the fork as it went back into the white filling.

"I see."

"Mm-hmm," Gabby hummed. She finished her bite, and then she considered her mentor for a moment, still there in her cape and dark eye makeup to help hide her eyes. "It'll become a dance with us, I suspect, as that is how its been the last few days since you've seen Kitten Britches about this city." Gabby pointed her fork at Barbara. "See, I get here, play all seeing Oracle for a few minutes, then Huntress shows up, and suddenly it all goes silent. You two do a little dance, have yet to make a little love and get down tonight... Then, once she's gone, you come back frustrated because you didn't get either the touch or information you wanted from her-"

"It's not like that-"

"Barbara, please," Gabby scoffed, "you turn off the comms, but there are other means of servailence. You taught me that." When Barbara did nothing else but to play with her fork in her cheesecake, the teen went on. "You come home here, I'm pissed, you apologize, Alfred makes something tasty, and then I go home. By the time school rolls around, all is forgiven. Why wouldn't it be? Its just going to happen again the next night, so why waste the energy?" Gabby stood up and walked to the cabenets where she searched for Seran Wrap, jumping when a couple of hands holding a small sheet of the transparent plastic appear to the side of her face. She gave him a 'Look', but said, "Thank you, Alfred. That was wonderful, as usual." She held the plate at her front as she went to the door to get her backpack. She was surprised to see Barbara standing there next to the door. Like Alfred a moment before, she hadn't even her her move from her spot at the table. "You've got to teach me how you guys do that," she said as she forced her heart rate to slow down.

"I've got to have some of my secrets," Barbara said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Barbara did feel bad that Gabby was so mad at her. She didn't like that the teen didn't even believe her whenever she said that she was sorry. "What would you say if I told you that I promise to keep my comms on?"

"I would say that I'd believe you if you hadn't already promised me that last night. and the night before that, and the night-"

"Okay, I got the point," Barbara said slowly. "I mean it this time."

"Words. We'll see tomorrow night when Kitten Britches starts flirting," Gabby said, using her free hand to open the door. "It was nice dancing with you. Same bat time, same bat location?" Barbara nodded, putting a hand on the door as blonde hair whipped around. She listened for the soft padded footsteps of the teen as she went around the side of the house and out the back passage way that would eventually lead her to the main lit road toward the subway station. When she heard the small creak of the gated door to the passageway swinging shut, Barbara slowly closed the door.

"She herself said that all will be forgiven in the morning," Alfred said from behind her. She had long ago stopped jumping whenever he heard his voice behind her or at her side. She found she could feel the butler's presence a fraction of a second before he ever said a word, but she figured that was just him waiting an extra moment before he spoke. For her benefit, of course.

"If all was forgiven, she wouldn't be as angry with me as she was tonight," Barbara said. She did feel badly that Gabby was so mad at her. She decided she needed to make it up to the teen somehow. Perhaps she would teach her how to step lightly, or even to 'hear' someone else when they did. She could teach her some basic self defence moves for those emergencies that Gabby feared occuring. Or maybe she could stop by No Man's Land to see her former student Gibson Kafka to see if there might be anyone interested in helping her out. Maybe if there was another person to help her out while she was on sweeps, it would ease the teen's fears. Gabby herself wasn't a fighter. It was always clear to Barbara, which was why she trained her on the Delphi instead of anything else, but maybe if she knew a few ways to defend herself for emergency missions on her own, Gabby might feel better about Batgirl's comms going off. 'Or,' she thought to herself, 'an easier solution would be to just keep the damn things on'. She shook her head and walked back to the table. She ate the rest of her cheesecake as to not offend Alfred, and really, it was tasty, as Gabby had described it. Then the superhero dragged her tired feet to her room with an absent goodnight to the butler. Too tired and still worried about her teen protoge', Barbara wasn't in the mood to shower just then, figuring she will wake up a little earlier to shower and work on grading the last essay before the Christmas holiday. Instead, she changed out of the Batgirl suit, and put it far into her closet. She press the button which would send it down to Alfred, where he would get around to cleaning and mending the suit if needed. She had about 3 other back up to use for the following nights, so she didn't need to worry. The redhead changed into a pair of long plaid pajama bottoms and a white T-shirt, and with a sigh, Barbara fell onto her bed and fell asleep.


	3. Chapter 3

As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

Chapter 3

Gabby Andrews walked hurriedly into New Gotham High school, looking around for her favorite teacher and her mentor, even if she wasn't her favorite person at the moment. She waved at Mr. Brixton, the guidance councilor, as he made his way in her direction, presumably to the main office, which was right at her left. "Good morning Gabby," he said to her. She smiled.

"Morning, Mr. Brixton. How are you?"

"Good thanks. Anything big happening with you lately?"

Gabby looked up innocently as if to think about it. "I begged my parents to let me get a pet turtle, but they said no."

"A turtle? What would you have named it?"

"Shelly," Gabby spat off the top of her head. She hadn't actually expected for Mr. Brixton to ask after the turtle. She had expected for him to chuckle at her answer, say something along the lines of 'pets are a big responsibility, but I'm sure your parents know that you can handle the job. Perhaps they had their reasons for saying no', and then continue on his way into the office.

"Shelly?" Mr. Brixton repeated with a laugh. "That's clever. You know, there are some colleges now that allow students to have small pets in the dorms. They say it helps students feel better and gives them a better work ethic. It is kind of the same as having animals in the workplace or nursing homes. Having a turtle would make you one of the more popular girls in the dorm, I think."

"Really? Pets in the dorms? I am so going to one of those colleges," Gabby lied. She hadn't really thought about college ever since learning about her teacher Miss Gordon's secret identity and becoming Oracle. She knew that Barbara would have wanted that of her, as would her parents, but she didn't know how she would feel about leaving her post so soon. She knew that in a couple of years she would just be beginning to understand the lifestyle and she'll know her way around the Delphi and its latest technological updates.

Mr. Brixton looked her over. "Yeah, the one I know about for sure isn't too far away and has a pretty big LGBTQ following if I'm not mistaken." He thought about this. "Hey, come by my office and we can look into some of them, see which one has a good degree program that you might want to consider and do what we can to get you there."

"I will. Thanks Mr. B." Gabby said with a genuine smile. She always liked the councelor. He did his best to get to know the students, and he never appeared to be trying too hard because he genuinley cared about people. She watched as the councelor made a head gesture to the office and excused himself from the conversation. Then she turned to her locker and twisted the combination. She hit the handle with the palm of her hand to get it unstuck, and it opened for her.

"Pretty neat trick. Took the last person almost all year to figure that out," a familiar voice said at her side. Gabby tried not to look affected by the voice, by the fact that she didn't even hear her footsteps as usual.

"Good morning, Miss Gordon," Gabby said politely, though her tone still held the slight frost to it. It was different from the indifference the teen had used with the redhead the night before.

"Miss Gordon, huh? Would it make a difference if I told you that you got an A on your paper on A Cider House Rules?"

Gabby looked up at this. A mention of that book was code for something else in the nightlife. It meant 'we need to talk'. A bad grade on the imaginary paper meant that Gabby was in trouble, a mention of the movie meant something was up with the Delphi, and a C on the paper meant it was unimportant, but it couldn't wait until that night. Gabby had never gotten an A on the imaginary paper before, so she wondered what this meant. "Really? I will come pick it up afterschool today."

"Actually, my classroom is enroute to your homeroom. It would take no time at all to come and get it from my desk," Barbara replied. Her eyes seemed apologetic, and Gabby seemed to consider this. She put her backpack inside her locker, took out a notebook and her math textbook, and then she slammed the locker closed to reset the stick on it, otherwise it wouldn't stay closed. She then put the lock back on, spinning the dial a few times to reset it.

"Alright, since it is on the way," Gabby said with a sigh. She walked next to her favorite teacher, who stayed in silence with her until they got to the classroom. Since Barbara didn't host a homeroom class, they had no one in the room, and she closed the door against the loudness of students making it to class on time.

"So, an A, huh?" Gabby asked once the door was closed and she leaned on Barbara's desk.

"An A+ if you say you forgive me."

"Bribery? Why Miss Gordon, I thought that would be beneath you," Gabby said with a smirk. Barbara copied the smirk.

"I'm desperate," she said. There was a short silence. "I didn't know that my turning the comms off hurt you so much." When Gabby didn't say anything, she continued, "I think I have found a way for us to compomise." She reached into her jacket pocket and got out what looked to be a small plastic box of tacs, but when they were handed to Gabby, she saw that they were another pair of comms with the bat symbol on them. Since there were many stores out there now selling Batman inspired merchendise, it wouldn't look strange for Gabby to be wearing a pair of Batman earings, since it was practically a style a few years ago. Barbara had told her that they should use a different symbol, but the city was so used to the bat symbol. "I modified the other ones. I can still turn the comms off, but only the speaker. I can still hear you, and you can still get a reading on where I am and how I am doing physically."

"I understand the need for a private conversation. Kitten Britches knows some things about your mentor and your past that maybe I shouldn't know yet. I trust that you have your reasons for keeping things from me. What scared me was that I never knew where you were or what was going on with you. So, yes, I believe we have reached a compromise."

"So you forgive me?" Barbara wondered, unsure if it really was that easy. The initial modification had only taken her around twenty minutes to perform.

"Do I still get an A+?" Gabby asked.

"You'd get an A+ + +," Barbara countered, and Gabby grinned.

"Alright. Forgiven, but only because Alfred gave me the bigger slice of cheesecake this time."

"Hug on it?" Barbara asked. Gabby stepped into her mentor's opened arms and they had a quick hug before Gabby pulled away. "That reminds me, I brought the rest of that cheesecake here, but I had to put it in the refridgerator in the teachers' lounge, so there might be a feeding frenzy and you might not get any."

"Yes well, the teachers would deserve it if they did. They can consider it a thank you from me."

"How kind of you," Barbara said with another smirk.

"What can I say, I'm a giver."

"And modest, too!"

"I know! I should, like, get a medal or something."

The two laughed at this, and when they settled down, Barbara looked at the clock. "You should get to class before you're late and I'm forced to give you detention."

"Yeah right," Gabby said with a scoff, but she opened the door and left, waving behind her as she went. Barbara went to her desk, thinking about the added benefits of the modifications to the comm sets. She could make the same modifications for Gabby, just in case she ever needed to be out there and Alfred had to take over the Delphi. Though Barbara hated that thought, she knew that the possibility was out there. She looked at the stack of graded papers, and then she sat back and relaxed with her cup of coffee.

Gabby sat at a small table by herself at lunch. Usually she sat in Barbara's classroom and ate and studied while Barbara did her own work, but there had been a lunch type meeting called that day, so she was forced to face the part about high school she always hated the most: the student population. She never had been one to make friends easily, and when she did, they weren't around for too long. Parents always were afraid for the safety of their children because of all of the crime in the city. Even with Batman (and later Batgirl and Robin) there to protect them, there was just too many news reports of things gone wrong, so her friends always moved away. As Gabby ate the sandwhich she had prepared that morning, she looked around at the guys throwing french fries at eachother, at the girl who had dropped her tray and got a standing ovation, and the group of girls who were writing love letters to their boyfriends and crushes. Then there was the scattered cliques and unofficial club meetings that took place all around her. She saw Kelly with her new girlfriend Gina, and the both of them were with a couple of senior boys who were trying to go to prom together that year, since they were told they couldn't go to homecoming, or as they dubbed it, Homocoming, together. Had Kelly and Gina gone to Homecoming, the boys might have had a chance, but they had been denied. There was a big thing about it, and Gabby signed the petitions, but in the end they lost their fire for it, and decided to tackle prom instead. Gabby knew that she would sign anything for that, too, and the group would have Barbara's support as well, as Barbara was the club's required faculty member for all clubs. If something happened with this club or its members, Barbara was the one responsible. Gabby was a member of the group, but in meetings only, as well as a couple of events they put out each month. Gabby wasn't sure how she felt about being with the group otherwise. She always got a feeling that they were a small solidified clique before she even got there that year, and Gabby hadn't the heart to pretend she wanted to be around them anyway, especially after last year, when she found out about her English Lit teacher.

"Excuse me. May I sit here?"

Gabby looked up at the new voice. It was nervous, but she seemed a little edgy, as if she would rather eat her own liver than to ask. If the school allowed for the students to eat outside, both her and Gabby would most likely be there at that moment, and their exchange would never happen. As it were, Gabby had to hurry just to get the seat she had. She didn't want to be the one in the situation the new girl was in now. Gabby looked into the eyes of the new girl, Dana or something. Gabby didn't have any classes with her, but she has heard the whispering in the halls about how creepy she was, or how she took Freddy Killier down a notch when he tried to hit on her. The new girl stood above her in her black leather jacket done mostly up, showing very little of the white shirt underneath, and jeans. She had a chain wallet, a slightly matching chain as a necklace, and she wore dark eye makeup. Her look definately said for people to stay away, but there was something else so haunting about this girl that Gabby almost could identify in her time of working with Barbara as Oracle. She had her secrets, and Gabby had no intention of digging into them. "Yeah," Gabby finally said when she noticed that the girl shifted from one foot to the other as she waited for Gabby's approval. She then set her tray down, and took a seat across from her.

"Thanks. I would sit alone, but there isn't anywhere else," the new girl felt the need to explain. Gabby nodded. She knew the feeling. "My name is Dinah."

Dinah. That's right. "I'm Gabby," she offered. She opened her bag a little more to grab at the bag of chips she hastily stashed in there. She realized that she had forgotten to put the banana in there, as well as the Nuitrigrain bar for later. She had been in a hurry, since the power had gone out in her area for a couple of seconds in the night, and her alarm clock was flashing 4:22 AM. She had checked her cellphone and saw that she had twenty minutes to be dressed and ready before her bus got to her house. She remembered the five one dollar bills tucked away in her backpack for such emergencies, and she felt a little better. If she was hungry later, as she knew she would be, she would just buy something from the student store right before the end of lunch and eat it in between classes.

"Are you new, too?" Dinah asked. The question startled Gabby out of her thoughts and she looked up. "I mean, I haven't seen you around before today."

"No, I am not new. I just don't like... people... here," Gabby said, trailing off.

"I hear that. There are maybe eight different groups here, most of which had been formed in the womb, and if you're new to it or if you're not really any of them, then you're out. They don't even have a clue how many types of people are out there." Dinah also trailed off a little bit, and Gabby's eyes flickered to her before going down to her food. "You're different though. You're not like me, but you sure aren't anything like them." This got Gabby's attention.

"Not like you? How so?" The teen Oracle almost knew how, but she wondered if she might be right.

Dinah shrugged and fell silent. Gabby didn't push it, and this suprised Dinah. "Yeah, you're definately different," the new girl seemed to decide.

"I guess so. But I've learned that its not a bad thing unless you make it that way." Gabby said. There was something about the way Dinah talked and acted that made Gabby wonder if she might be metahuman or just someone with a bad past. Possibly a combination of the two.

"You're right, of course," Dinah said, "but people sure do make it hard to overcome your own differences."

"Yeah, people suck like that." Gabby agreed. She was surprised when Dinah laughed. They said nothing after that, and when Gabby was done eating her chips, she crumpled up the evidence that a tasty, yet meager lunch was had and she stood to go.

"Hey, uh, Gabby... If one of us finds a seat in this shark tank, we should, uh... We should sit together again."

"I'll save you a seat," Gabby said, unsure if this meant she would start eating in the cafeteria on a daily basis. Dinah nodded, and Gabby walked out of the cafeteria wondering vaguely if she had just made a friend.


	4. Chapter 4

As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

*Whoo! A slightly longer chapter due to metahuman action. Let the fun commence!*

Chapter 4

Alright, Batgirl, I need for you to not let Kitten Britches make you into her ball of yarn tonight, okay? Oracle said over the comm. system that night. The teen smirked when she saw the face change on the superhero on a monitor in front of her. Barbara had purposely turned to the camera to show her annoyance to the up and coming cyber protector. Nice, was all she said in responce to her mentor's bout of immaturity.

"You spent some time researching cat jokes lately, haven't you?"

Actually, no. I came up with that one all on my lonesome. But I'm serious, you cannot be distracted tonight.

"I won't be," Batgirl insisted.

That's not what you said yesterday, Oracle said in a somewhat reprimanding tone.

"That's not what you said yesterday," came the mimicked reply. Gabby wished that Batgirl could see her on a monitor as she rolled her eyes. She swore she was the mentor of the duo, not Barbara. The redhead just took that title from her because of some weird age technicality. Gabby remained silent to that, because really, what could she say that wouldn't reduce her to a ten year old or trap her in an argument she wasn't smart enough to win anyway? There was a sigh over the comms. "Okay, Oracle. I am sorry, and I will try my best not to get distracted," Barbara said. She must have taken the teen's silence as anger. Though she wasn't angry at all at the superhero, the silence had its effect, and Gabby smiled to herself.

Good. She took another moment to type in a few commands into the security cameras of the building Batgirl was to be sneaking into, belonging to New Gotham Credit Union, one of the smaller buildings in the city. She searched through the voice recognition data once more to see if it could pick up who inside the company had made the 911 call only an hour ago. Inside were some of the company's top players held hostage, and one of them had been elected to make the call. The men who held them were unknown in any of Gabby's databases, as one of them had a power of electricity, but only when he touched something that held a current, and the other two seemed to be twins with the same metal shifting power. Gabby couldn't quite tell from her view of them from the security cameras, but it seemed as if they shifted into a solid metal shape, making them invincible to bullets. As far as she could tell, the 911 call was from the CEO, Ken San. Batgirl?

"Hit me," said the redhead as she looked around careflly.

Don't tempt me, Gabby shot back, then continued, Ken San made the 911 call an hour ago, but servailence shows that they had all been locked in the building for the last three. The building is usually completely shut down and locked up by the night janitors, Alvin Hernendez, and Hecktor and Gary Clamp. Twins. These are our guys. There was a buisness meeting involving all of the head honchos, and they met at this location, as it was closest to a restaurant that is owned by the wife of Jim Vanderbelt, where this monthly meeting ends. It is pretty routine for this group.

"And of course the janitors would know about it," Barbara said.

That's what I'm thinkin'. I can't get very good audio on this camera. They are speaking so low, and the hostages were scared into silences.

"What are they wanting for the safety of the hostages? What are the police offering them?"

One sec," Gabby said, clicking a few things and accidentally clicking out of her programs completely. Damn it! Gabby yelled, trying her best to get everything back up immediately, but she had forgotten how she had gotten to some of the windows she had been in, and two of the more important ones, like the camera that had the best audio for the room, had been opened up by Barbara before she had gone to the scene. Um...

"You lost the footage, didn't you?"

It was an accident. I don't even know what I hit, Gabby admitted sheepishly. Barbara told her what folders and files to open, and Gabby obeyed without needing the superhero to tell her twice. Thank you,

"You're doing really well. I expect for you to make mistakes. Just save them for practices, okay?"

Will try my best, Gabby said with a deep intake of air.

"You always do," Barbara said reassuringly. Gabby looked at the screen that held her mentor's picture. She saw the small smile on her face, and Gabby smiled back at the screen, knowing the redhead wouldn't see her.

Okay, from what I can hear... The cops aren't really offering anything. There is a lead guy- What-? He says... Gabby heard shuffling as Batgirl jumped a couple of rooftops. There was a small pause.

"His name is Detective Reece, he said. He's not taking any guff from these guys. He wants them out of the building, and he wants it done now. Yeah, and I want to fly and shoot lazers with my eyes," Batgirl said somewhat sarcastically.

Why is this guy provoking them?

"He's frusterated. He doesn't know what these guys want, so he's hoping he will say something that will get one of them talking back."

Doesn't sound smart. What if he pisses them off and they start shooting? Oracle asked, her face starting to pale. She had never done a hostage situation, not even in training.

"We can't lose ourselves in what ifs right now, Oracle. What I need from you is to see if anything the detective is saying right now is affecting their movements."

Okay- Wait! Whatever the good detective just said, one of them- Alvin just pointed to a door. Then Ken, I think, shook his head. He's pleading, but Alvin is pissed. The metal twins are- Whoa! Okay, Batgirl, I need you to see if you can get a little closer without the police seeing you. I think I just saw a shadow outside of one of the windows. I don't know who it was, but they were fast.

"Huntress," Barbara said without a doubt.

Suddenly, a fierce high shriek flowed through the air. Glass broke on windows all around the building of the credit union, the people inside all ducking and covering their ears. Some of them already had blood spilling from them. Batgirl? Gabby gasped as she too had to cover her ears. She brought her fingers to her eyes as soon as the shriek stopped. There was a small drop of blood there, and her head pounded in a headache.

"No, it can't be," came the shakey voice in Gabby's ears.

Batgirl, report! Gabby called, looking at the monitors on the screen. Barbara wasn't in view, and this worried her. She saw that the poeple in the building were being shuffled out, and the men holding everyone hostage were taken into custody.

"Only one person has the Canary Cry, and she's dead," came the breathy voice in Gabby's ear.

Bat-

"I'm going to ground level. I wanna know what the hell just happened."

I do too, but Batgirl, please! Gabby didn't know what was going on, or who Barbara was talking about. She had never heard of the Canary Cry, and she wondered if this was one of the many things about Batgirl and Batman's past that her mentor had failed to tell her. Who had the Canary Cry?

"Its- She's dead!"

It isn't impossible and you know it. We once thought that every metahuman had the same power, but we've been prioven wrong. Both Huntress and Catwoman have the same powers, and niether of them are dead.

"But-" Barbara stopped. "This is so wrong."

Batgirl, listen to me. Whoever just did that, it hurt my ears as well through your comms. They are powerful, and they don't even need to be near you to do it. Please be careful. I know that you will go check it out no matter what I say-

"That isn't true, Gab-Oracle. If you want me to come back to base, I will. You're in charge when I'm out here."

You might just regret saying that someday."

"I know I will, but I am serious. You can see what I can't, and I have to trust your word. If you see something that says anything to you, trust your instincts, and I will, too."

In that case, Batgirl, I would like you to do a small, quick as you can sweep. Make sure the hostages are okay, and if you see nothing further out of the ordinary, please come back. I hear Alfred just bought a new half gallon of rocky road ice cream. Gabby said to the superhero. Please keep your comm. on no matter what for now, Gabby added.

"Sure thing."

From there, Gabby heard breathing, and she saw over monitors and through the small camera set in Bagirl's cowl, where she was going. The teen watched as Batgirl jumped down to the ground on her cables with ease, and she hid in the shadow, watching the blaring lights of the police cars before something was caught on the comms. Batgirl? Gabby asked tentatively.

"I'm on it," came the reply, and the redhead was on the move. The sound came again, a small shuffle near the credit union, and the shift of the broken glas tinking to the ground. Both Barbara and Gabby saw immediately who it was, rising slowly from the ground, glass shards falling off of her as she tried to stay steady on her feet.

"Mmm, Baby Bat," Huntress said apretiatively when she saw her.

"What are you doing here?" Batgirl asked, fighting the urge to turn the comm off. She had promised Oracle she would keep it on this time, and the teen had a good reason for it this time.

"I wanted to party. There was a person here, a woman. She looked pretty suspitious, and I went to see what she was doing in the center of a hostage siuation. She was wicked. We fought, and she- But then- I don't know, my brains began to leak from my ears at this... high pitched... And-"

"Who was she?"

"Like I know?" Huntress asked irritably.

"I'm sorry."

"Looks like you know. I thought maybe it was one of your superfriends or the nervous tick you talk to right before you and I cuddle," Huntress said.

I'll show you a nervous tick, Gabby said, annoyed. Barbara made a face, but being out of any serveilance range, the teen didn't see the grimace.

"She's like me. Well... Not as hot as me, obviously," Huntress said.

"Obviously. So you're saying she's got powers. Other than the brain melding, glass shattering shriek of doom?"

"Yeah. She- When we fought, she touched my face, and I couldn't move. It was like she was in my head, stealing my secrets. I think-" Huntress stopped speaking after that. "And she's telekinetic."

Whoa, three powers that we even know of? Who is this chick? Gabby asked.

"That is what I would like to know," Barbara said softly, which earned her a smirk from Huntress.

"The nervous tick?" she asked.

Alright, Batgirl... Gabby cut in before she wanted to rip Huntress a new one, I think you need to come back to base. I mean... And I hate to admit to this, but I think Huntress is right on this one. There is something you know about the person with the power of that shrieking, and we need to talk about that.

"I'll be there," Barbara said, and then looked to Huntress, who had cuts on her face from the glass, and a droplet of blood was dry under each earlobe. "You should get those cuts checked out.

"Worried they would scar my pretty face?" Huntress asked.

"Something like that," Batgirl said.

"Don't worry Batgirl. Me and my pretty face will be ready for you tomorrow night," Huntress said, taking a step forward in attempt to kiss her, but Batgirl took a step back, and then threw her cable upward. she yanked to see that it had caught on something, and looked at the feline woman before her.

"Its my turn for the nifty exit. I'm sure I'll see you around, Kitten," the redhead superhero said, and then she was gone. Huntress looked up, admiring the form of Batgirl before she, too, jumped on a rooftop and started going in another direction.

Almost a half an hour later, Batgirl entered Wayne Manor and took off her cowl. "You had too much fun out there tonight," Gabby commented, but she was smiling, not upset like Barbara had worried.

"There is too much we deal with and will deal with in this life. Why not have a little fun every once in a while?" Barbara asked playfully. The light glittered in her emerald eyes, and Gabby chuckled a little bit. Alfred came into the room and took the cowl from the redhead, and before she could say any sort of greeting, he was gone again. She walked closer to the teen, who had the promised half gallon of icecream out, and was eating directly from the carton. Gabby ignored the look Barbara was giving her, and picked up another spoon and dug it in, leaving it so that it stood upwards in the icecream. The redhead took a couple of bites from the carton, and she stared at Gabby for a moment before she began to speak. "Her name was Carolyn. She was a close friend of mine in high school, back when I first became Batgirl. I didn't know that she was a methuman. She managed to keep that from me for quite some time, but... One night, I found out about her, she found out about me, and we became closer friends. She had a lot of potential, and after a while, I was able to convince Batman- Bruce to let her join us. By then, Carolyn was her own superhero, The Black Canary." Barbara took another bite of the icecream, and as she let it melt in her mouth and she chewed the chuncks, she went quiet.

Gabby stared at her mentor and waited for her to speak again. Even if she didn't, she had a place to search to figure out what was going on with her, if she is really dead or not. "So..." Gabby was about to ask a question, and this seemed to remind Babara that she had been speaking and she started up again.

"Carolyn soon started going under cover after a man named Al Hawk. At first we thought he was just some mob guy, but he... He was the worst. We thought that maybe he had some sort of metahuman ability to persuade people the way he did, but he was just an evil man. And smart. He figured out who she really was and went after the man she loved, a superhero by the name of the Green Arrow, and then he went after us. Carolyn was so distraught and guilty for what she had done, not being able to end the undercover op when she was supposed to, that she drew Al Hawk away from us, and we didn't know what happened after that, except that almost seven years later, a bomb went off in a little house in Opal, Misouri. The body inside was identified as Carolyn Meyers, but her picture on the news was her, unmistakenly. The report said she had a daughter, and I tried to look for her, but she slipped through my fingers. Poor girl must have had a few different names before she was Meyers. The last known address was in Texas with a Lex and Misty Redmond, but she ran away two years ago and is presumed dead. I would have helped her, had I known where she was."

"So... do you think it might be her daughter then?"

"It can't be Carolyn," Barbara responded softly. She swallowed and looked down at the spoon in her hand.

"You think she might be out for revenge?"

"How would she know who she was after? How would she know to come here?" Barbara asked. These were really good questions, questions she couldn't even begin to answer. "I really don't know. I would say at the moment, I don't think so. She was the one to break the glass at the credit union, but I am not sure if that was because of the fight with Huntress or if that had been her intention the whole night." There was silence as they ate icecream together. At one point they playfully fought eachother with their spoons, using them as swords for a moment before Barbara ducked under Gabby's hand and got to the bigger chunk of chocolate.

"So what do we do?" Gabby asked after her small protest and then scooped up another bite. She then put the spoonful in her mouth.

"Nothing tonight. Tomorrow, we will figure out a game plan in my classroom during lunch." At this, Gabby's shoulders slumped slightly, which surprised both of them.

"I, um... I thought maybe I would sit with..." Gabby took in a breath and said, "but this is more important. Cider House Rules and all," she said.

"I'm sorry. I will try to be quick so that maybe there will be some time left to sit and talk with friends."

"A," Gabby said, "as in singular... I think."

"Hmm? I'm glad you're finally mingling with kids your own age. I often worry about you spending so much time with old farts like me."

"Call yourself that again after kicking the ass the three thugs at once," Gabby shot back with a smile. She took one more scoop of the icecream with her spoon and, seeing that Barbara seemed to be done, closed up the carton and stood to put it in the freezer. She was stopped by Alfred, who took it from her. He had a similar look for her that Barbara had given her earlier that evening, and unlike her reaction to Barbara (or lack therof), Gabby shrunk back a little, silently chastized. Then Gabby went to the hall right before the door to the manor and grabbed her backpack.

"You're leaving already?" Barbara asked.

"Yeah. I've found that the quicker I get home, the less my mother worries and gets suspitious of me. Soon, I am going to have to invent another afterschool activity or part time job or something."

"You can tell her that you're my TA and we work on the curriculum, but even that gets dangerous. People know you're gay, and there is that lesbian movie out now about the teacher and the student... It might cause some talk."

"Well, you might be the hottest teacher I have ever had, but I just might get my ass kicked by Catwoman's daughter if I ever said so," Gabby said.

"You just said so," Barbara replied.

"No I didn't. Kitten Britches would have kicked my ass by now if I had." There was a wink.

"Same bat time, same bat network?" Barbara wondered. She was glad to see that Gabby wasn't leaving the Manor annoyed or mad this time around.

"Hell yeah," Gabby agreed.

"Be safe," Barbara said as she waited at the door like she often did. When she heard the gate, she sighed and went upstairs to one of the rooms she always had when she was there at the manor. She hadn't done anything to Bruce's quarters. The redhead looked under the bed and found a box filled to the top with photos of Batgirl and the Black Canary fighting together, posing behind Batman with Tim Drake at the time as Robin, and some pictures taken by amature photographers. Then she picked up the newspaper article she had found from Opal, and she stared at it, looking over the names mentioned. Tomorrow, as she promised Gabby, they would look into this. If it was Carolyn's daughter, Barbara wanted to help her. She wanted to make sure that she wasn't out for revenge, and if she was, to make sure they all went about it the right way so that this girl won't get herself killed.


	5. Chapter 5

As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

Chapter 5

"I'm in trouble, Barbara," Gabby said as she sat heavily in the desk in the front of the classroom. The redhead looked up at her, wondering what she meant.

"What happened?" she asked in a concerned tone.

"My mom. She found out that I haven't been babysitting the Morgans for almost two months now, so now she thinks I am a budding deliquent or something with my staying out until ten every night. She wants me home right after school today, which means I won't be able to..."

"Damn!" Barbara hissed.

"I'm sorry. You're gonna have to have Alfred there tonight and possibly tomorrow night until I can figure something out," Gabby said, guilt heavy in her voice.

"It's not your fault," the English teacher said, though there was the smallest hint in her look and tone that suggested otherwise, as if the teen may have done something to tip her mother off.

"Don't look at me like that!" Gabby said automatically, "You saw me last night. I left earlier than usual. I don't know what made her start to question me and start to think that something was wrong. Oh god, I hope she hasn't become a snooper."

"Yeah," Barbara replied slowly after a moment of thought. "I just... I needed you there today. It was part of my plan for figuring out whether this newcomer is the daughter of Carolyn Lance."

"You're going to have to have Alfred do it, wait a few nights, or come up with another plan, then," Gabby said almost flippantly. She dug into the small brown sack she had brought for her lunch, and spread it along the small desk around her.

"Weren't you gonna go meet with your friend?" Barbara asked.

"You wanted me here," Gabby said.

"Yeah, I know, but you can't be here tonight, so the plan's a bust."

"I'm here now," Gabby said with a sigh, "and I'm pretty comfy, so you're stuck with my ugly mug for a few more minutes."

"You don't have an ugly mug. Why would you say that about yourself?" Barbara asked. She had turned from her work on the whiteboard, where she was writing out the assignment for the next class in order to stare at the teen seriously.

"It was a joke, Barbara, calm down," Gabby replied. Without really looking, she threw a Nuitrigrain bar in Barbara's direction, knowing that her teacher would catch it. She was right. Barbara practically snatched it out of the air, and after unwrapping it, the redhead took a large bite from it, half of the bar. This wasn't the first time that Gabby aknowledged the fact that they seemed to bond the best when they were eating something together, which was why they always had desert after sweeps as a way to catch up. Plus, there was just something a little less awkward about being in the same room as your superhero Lit. teacher when there was something to do with your hands. "What were you going to do," Gabby asked after a moment, "had I been there tonight?"

"Oh... Taunt you like usual."

"That's the only reason why you wanted me there tonight?" Gabby asked skeptically.

"No," Barbara said, further unwrapping the Nutrigrain bar so she could take another bite from it. "I need you there to make me not feel so guilty about eating all the sweets Alfred makes as well." There was a glare from Gabby, and a laugh from the redhead.

"You could share with your fellow eduactors. Tell them that you're thinking of starting an online baking buisness and you want input on recipies you've made up or added to," Gabby suggested somewhat sarcastically.

"Online baking," Barbara said thoughtfully, "Now there's an excuse I have yet to use."

"Seriosuly," Gabby said, cutting off anything else Barbara may or may not have had to say after that.

"Seriously, I was going to have you come over after school so that I could dissect a part of the Delphi and show you how to put it back together in case something were to happen and you had to fix her manually."

"See, now I almost hate my mother. Almost," Gabby reinforced. "I really did want to be there tonight. I am just as curious about this new owner of the Canary Cry as you probably are." Barbara gave her a sympathetic smile at this. She took the final bite and the bar was gone completely. She balled up the wrapper and tried to throw it in an arched toss with a small jump like a basketball player, but the wrapper was made of a crinkly material that unballed itself on the way over and floated to the ground too far away. "She shoots and she misses! How does it feel to be the least scoring player in the WNBA?"

"I'm going to Disneyland!" Barbara said excitedly as she threw her hands in the air.

"That is so not what I asked." The two laughed at this.

There was a short silence before Barbara suddenly straightened up and said, "So anyway Gabby, yeah, you need to finish this paper. I know you can do better."

"Sorry, Ms. Gordon. Some of the things that were said makes my head spin. I don't get what Shakespear is saying half of the time," Gabby added, and then she looked over in the same spot Barbara had to see that Mr. Brixton was there with a smile for the two of them.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything important."

"No, I think we're pretty much done here," Barbara said, giving Gabby a meaningful look that pretty much said 'Go eat with your friend'. Gabby took a bite from her sandwhich as a responce, earning her a look that seemed to tell her that she was a brat.

"Sorry, but Barbara? There was that reschedualed meeting this afternoon in about five minutes. I think the memo was a little confusing to the staff, so I have been given the duty of rounding you all up if I can."

"Oh, yes, I forgot." This didn't seem to be an act, and Barbara seemed to have actually forgotten. "Yes, that email was confusing. I wasn't sure who was required to be there or not." Mr. Brixton nodded.

Gabby slowly packed up her lunch and walked towards the door. "Gabby," the councelor called, and Gabby turned around to face him.

"Yeah, Mr. B?"

"Come by my office tomorrow morning before class. I printed out a couple of colleges that might interest you. You could even get that pet turtled if you still want it by then," he said.

"Sure. Um... 7:30 okay?" Gabby asked. She let her eyes flicker over to Barbara, and she had a look that the blonde couldn't read. It made her shift from one foot to the other.

"That will be fine. See you then," Mr. Brixton said. He then motioned for Barbara to follow him.

"I've got to lock up," Barbara told him. She turned to the door and locked it, saying "College with a turtte?" Her eyebrows rose playfully.

"Long story. I'll tell you when I'm not grounded," Gabby said. The two waved.

"Get that done, Gabby. I don't want you flunking out of my class," Barbara called behind her.

"Thanks!" Gabby called back. She made her way to the lunchroom and wondered if she should have looked for Dinah. She hadn't expected that Dinah would have saved her a seat, but after a quick scan of the lunchroom, she saw her there along the wall in the far back of the lunchroom. As Gabby slowly approached her, she saw that Dinah was at one of the smaller tables, small enough to not take much space, but big enough to have four chairs to it, two of which were taken by the rowdy four chaired table next to her. Dinah had her backback in the seat of the chair next to her, and her arm was drapped over the back possessively. The other blonde had earphones over her ears and was bobbing her head to the music with her eyes closed. When Gabby stood next to her, she was surprised that she could hear the music in the loud lunchroom. The teen Oracle stood for a second and stared at her. Without missing a beat or even opening her eyes, Dinah moved her backpack and kicked the chair closer to Gabby. As she sat down, Gabby heard the rock music get louder for a second before it stopped all together. Dinah had the headphones rested in the crooks of her neck. Gabby looked down before Dinah spoke up.

"I wasn't sure you'd make it. I didn't know if you'd even bother coming into the lunchroom today." She said this as if she was speaking about the weather, but when Gabby looked into her eyes, she saw the slight curiousity there.

"Same here," was all Gabby said as she spread out her lunch again. She unwrapped her sandwhich and saw that Dinah didn't have anything in front of her.

"You gonna eat anything?"

"Yeah, when the line goes down," Dinah said. It was said too casually for Gabby to believe it. Dinah shrugged, unapologetic for the lie between them, and Gabby gave Dinah her chips.

"So I don't feel bad about eating when someone else isn't. It makes me nervous and I am too hungry," Gabby said. Dinah laughed at this, but she didn't touch the chips. When Gabby didn't move and simply stared at Dinah, the other blonde sighed and picked up the chips and opened them.

"Thanks."

"Sure," Gabby said, waving it off. Suddenly, Dinah looked up at a spot just behind Gabby. When a slight shadow came over her, Gabby looked up to see Jeff standing behind her.

"Erm- Hey Gabby," he said uneasily as he looked over to Dinah quickly. "Um... Meeting's cancelled this week because the president and vice president are having issues right now, so..."

Gabby looked behind him long enough to see Gina walking out of the lunchroom angry and Kelly following not far behind her with her backpack. "Ohhhh," Gabby said as it dawned on her. If Gina and Kelly were off again, the next meeting was going to be SO awkward.

"Yeah, so if you see Ms. Gordon before I do, could you let her know?" Jeff asked. Gabby nodded at this. When Jeff was gone, she turned to Dinah to see that she was watching her.

"You don't strike me as a type to be in any clubs," Dinah said.

"SGA. I go to meetings, but that is about it," Gabby told her. Dinah seemed taken aback by this.

"I could have made your life hell for you telling me that."

"And I would be proven right about the people in this school. It would be no skin off my teeth," Gabby replied quickly. She turned the chip bag towards her, stole a couple and then turned it back to Dinah as she crunched down on the ones she took innocently. Dinah looked at her for a second longer before a chuckle escaped her, but it seemed humorless.

"Yeah, you're definately nothing like any 'o them." There was a quick chin jerk in the general direction of the rest of the cafeteria. The way Dinah had said it made Gabby wonder if she was reassuring herself on that fact.

"Good," Gabby replied, taking another bite from her sandwhich.


	6. Chapter 6

As History Repeats

by Erin Griffin

*What's this? A new chapter? After three or four weeks of barely writing anything? 'Tis true? Yes, but don't get too excited. This is obviously a filler chapter.

Chapter 6

Gabby's head bobbed to the music in her ear as she waited for the other students to get on the bus. She had already been on the bus now for almost ten minutes, and watched as a few of the other busses left the curb and off towards various parts of the neighborhood. There was a thump on the window next to her, and if Gabby hadn't been leaning on the window and felt it, she wouldn't have even acknowledged it. She turned toward the window and looked out. She saw Dinah there, waving her out. Gabby frowned at her as the bus's engine came to life and the driver looked as if she was ready to go. Dinah held up a set of car keys and then waved her out again. Gabby hesitated for just a moment and then hurried off the bus. "Hey," Gabby said, shifting the backpack further up her shoulder and looking at the other blonde.

"Hey."

"I hope you're really about to give me a ride, because there goes my bus," Gabby said.

"Of course I am. Besides, it is actually a pretty decent afternoon. You shouldn't spend it cramped in a bus crowded with those bozos," Dinah replied, flipping her thumb behind her at the thinning crowd of teenagers, who laughed and spoke loudly about homework and the opposite sex.

"So what do you suggest?"

"Spend the afternoon with me."

"I am sort of grounded," Gabby informed the other blonde, whose only response was a shrug.

"I promise to have you home before the clock strikes midnight, Princess."

"Or deal with the evil queen," Gabby playfully warned.

"Noted. Come on." Dinah turned and started walking towards the student parking lot, where Gabby was surprised to see a sleek black car waiting for them.

"Huh," Gabby muttered in slight amazement.

"What?" the new girl asked, her gaze flickering between her car and Gabby's face.

"I don't know why, but I thought you'd have a hog or something," Gabby admitted. She tried not to let her reddening face show when Dinah started laughing.

"I may be slightly punk, but I'm not a hard ass," Dinah said as the car beeped to life, "just don't tell anyone at school that."

"So why tell me?" Gabby asked as she opened the passenger side door. She waited for Dinah to open her car door and then she got inside. The car looked brand new, possibly a gift or even her parent's car.

"I dunno, thought it'd make you like me better," Dinah replied. Though her voice was teasing, there was something that Gabby picked up, something that she would only have noticed after her training to become Oracle. There was a slight hunch in her posture that told Gabby that Dinah's words were true. There was also something else about that posture that told Gabby that if she were to bring that part up, Dinah wouldn't know what to do. Since Dinah was giving her a ride home, she didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, so she laughed along with the other blonde, whose posture slacked slightly.

"Yeah well, I think I would like you better if you had a hog," Gabby joked back. Dinah smiled at this and started the car.

"Too bad for you then," Dinah said, "and me, I guess."

"Yeah, too bad." Gabby added.

"Pick a station and crank it. I am not in a hurry to get home. Are you?"

"Like I said I am grounded, so all I have to look forward to is the sight of my walls and math homework," Gabby replied as she turned the radio on and chose the 90's pop/rock station. At the sight of Dinah's headbob, Gabby prided herself for finding the station that met Dinah's approval. She stared out the window as Dinah got the car out of the parking lot, and Gabby wriggled in her seat to the beat of Alanis Morrestte's Ironic. "This isn't even the direction of my house," Gabby told her after a while.

"I thought you weren't in a hurry to get home," Dinah said. She turned her head and flashed Gabby a charming smile, and Gabby shrugged.

Dinah must have driven for over an hour, taking the two of them out of the way, through some of the wooded areas, the man-made park, and some of the pretty houses, more for decoration than for residency. "I always loved the houses over here," Dinah said suddenly.

"How long have you lived in New Gotham?" Gabby asked, since Dinah's statement sounded as if she wasn't as new to the area as everyone had thought.

"A couple of years," Dinah said. She checked the rearview mirror, and then said, "I was homeschooled before going to the high school, but I wanted to see what it was like in a public school so I could- I don't know, be more normal. Now I sort of wish I could be homeschooled again."

"Besides, you're the one saying that you don't like being normal."

"Well, normal, yes. Sheep, no."

"What's the difference?" Gabby asked.

Dinah turned her head for a split second and grinned. "You know, I don't know," she said.

The two of them continued on in the nicer neighborhood that Gabby would never admitt to knowing her way around. Gabby felt a little uncomfortable as Dinah got them closer to Wayne Manor. They ended up going right past it, and niether one of them made a comment about it past reading out what the sign out in the middle of the road said. As Dinah drove them away from that neighborhood, she made a quick left, which forced Gabby to hold on. Gabby made a mental note of this, but said nothing. She knew that had they kept going on that road, they would have passed Arkham Asylum. Gabby noticed that Dinah had stopped talking, and only the radio sounded between them, but she spoke again when they got back on the road that they both knew lead them towards the highschool again. Gabby knew that their ride was coming to a close. As if to think that as well, Dinah looked over at Gabby and her eyebrows rose. "Are you hungry?" Dinah asked.

"Uh..." Gabby hadn't expected that. She had expected the silence to continue on for the rest of the ride. She stared at her riding companion and wondered if she wanted to keep spending time with her, or if she should get home. Her mother was expected home soon, and if she wasn't there, she wouldn't see the outside of her room again, and Barbara wouldn't like knowing that her Oracle couldn't help her out on account of being grounded. Again.

"Um... Blink once for yes, twice for no?" Dinah tried. Gabby turned her head so that she was back to looking at the road ahead of them like before.

"Yeah, I guess I could eat something, why?"

"Let's stop at Mickey D's before I drop you home," Dinah suggested.

"Sure, okay."

Dinah did just that, and the two of them walked into the fastfood restaurant. Gabby held the door open for Dinah, and the two of them got in line. Gabby was still unsure what to think about Dinah. She was pretty, and she seemed nice (at least to her), despite the rumors about her, and Gabby was almost definately sure that she was a metahuman. At least, that was how she acted. Gabby doubted that it would take long for her to figure out what her power was, but she wouldn't have done that, even if she could pretty much snap her fingers and get it. She hoped that maybe someday Dinah and her could be the kind of friends that spoke about those sorts of things- homosexuality and metahuman abilities- as if it was a talk on the weather.

When the two of then got their orders and sat down at a booth, Dinah stared at Gabby for a second and then said, "Alright, out with it, or ask. Just... say something. I know you wanna."

Gabby thought for another second as the arouma of her fries hit her nose. She watched as Dinah squirted ketchup from the packets onto the trayliner, and then looked at her again when Gabby didn't speak. "I know that Arkham is, like, the creepiest place ever, but... you looked like you couldn't get away fast enough."

"I know people in there," was all Dinah said.

"Family?"

"You could say that," Dinah replied, her voice a little colder than she had intended.

"I'm sorry," Gabby said softly.

"Why? You didn't put 'em there," Dinah said, and she shrugged as if to dismiss them both from the conversation. Gabby sat for another second and slowly ate her fries. What if she had been? There had been many nights with her as Oracle where Batgirl put a metahuman away in Arkham, as they were too mentally unstable. Too many metahumans thought they were the next step in evolution and therefor supiriour to the rest of the population, too many who thought their gifts were from God and they were instruments of war and destruction. What if Dinah was related to one of them? "Look, I am sorry."

"Why?" Gabby asked this time.

"I... You must think I am crazy, or emotional, or-"

"Human," Gabby finished. There was a silence, and Dinah looked at Gabby as if she'd just heard the nicest thing anyone had ever said to her, which only strengthened her belief that Dinah was a metahuman.

"Yeah, I guess."

"I don't think you're weird, or crazy," Gabby told her. "This place just does that to people."

"This place?"

"New Gotham. There is something about it, what with news reports of masked heroes on everynight, and every now and again, there's just... shadows." Gabby wasn't sure why she was saying these things, but she'd heard other students murmur these things all the time before she ever knew about Batgirl and the likes of the Joker. She supposed that she'd give herself away if she never mentioned it, but she knew that there were people out there who would prefer to remain oblivious. "Some say, it is just the aftermath of the earthquake that happened years ago, but there are rumors that there is more to that as well."

"Earthquake?"

"I was pretty young then, but there was an earthquake here, back when the city was known as Gotham City. Everything was destroyed pretty much. People moved to Bludhaven and surrounding cities for over three years, those who weren't helping to rebuild. They built right over the old city, what people now call Old Gotham. Many places do that. People say that the ghosts of people who died in the earthquake are to blame for the shadows everywhere, and I am still unsure if I want to believe that."

"Well, what do you want to believe?" Dinah asked. Her voice was softer than before, softer than anything Gabby ever heard from her.

"I don't know." Gabby admitted, and she wasn't acting this time. "With all the Law and Order shows on, I am starting to wonder if there really are good people anymore."

At this, Dinah looked down. "You want to believe in black and white. Good and bad."

"Straight and gay?" Gabby interjected. "But how can I when I know better?"

"That is why someone a long, long time ago invented faith," Dinah said after a moment of silence within them. "Sometimes that is all you have have. Faith that if the shadows are real, then there is light somewhere. Who can see a shadow if something isn't a sillouett in some form of light?"

"Boy, that was rather philosophical," Gabby said, "but you are absolutely right."

"Yoda, I am," Dinah said with a laugh, and Gabby let out a slight chuckle of her own, which seemed to release them of the atmosphere they had been in.

"I think I want to believe in a caped cruisader somewhere, watching over the city and keeping us safe."

"And the shadows?" Dinah asked with a slight tilt of her head.

"As you said, we can't have shadows without a light somewhere, which I am assuming is your way of saying there can't be darkness without light, light without a shadow being cast somwhere."

"Understand, you do, young padiwon."

Gabby laughed, and they finished their meal, their conversation now on lighter things, like the upcoming vacation and their favorite music. The sky looked like it was starting to get dark when Dinah got Gabby to her house, and both girls seemed to not want to end the afternoon. "Shit, my mother's home," Gabby said. "Thanks for driving me, but I'm afraid you won't see me ever again, for my mother is going to kill me."

"Well, see you tomorrow then?"

"Yeah, tomorrow." Gabby put her backpack on her shoulder and winced when she heard her name called from the house. She waved at Dinah as she left the curb, and turned towards the house with a guilty look on her face.

"Who was that?" Gabby's mother asked after the door closed again, looking tall even at her hieght of 5'2. She pointed out the window at the street where Dinah's black car once had been, and waited for an answer.

"Dinah, my new friend from school." When her mother looked as if she didn't believe her, Gabby insisted, "She's new to school. She was homeschooled before, and now going to the high school."

"She your girlfriend?" The question was unexpected, especially since Gabby hadn't thought of the other blonde that way, even though she could easily get where her mother might ask her that, what with her being out late everynight for over two months after she stopped babysitting the Morgans. As much as Gabby wanted to say that no, they weren't dating, Gabby needed something to tell her mother to explain the nightly disappearences. Gabby nodded. "If she was homeschooled, where did you meet?"

"She has another friend at my high school. Part of the reason she started going," Gabby lied. "I met her while she was waiting on her. We got to talking, I ended up missing the bus, and she gave me a ride home."

"Where do you go at night," Gabby's mother asked, her look burning Gabby's forehead, "and why couldn't you just tell me you were dating someone?"

"We go all over the place, places where no one from school or Dinah's mother's church would know us. Her mom's pretty strict- hence the homeschooling, and it took her until just now to convince her to give her some slack with curfews and letting her go to school, but she would never understand the gay thing. We mostly just go bowling or to New Gotham Park or... You know, places where we can hang without being seen."

"I don't like the thought of you being out at night like that. I understand being in the closet- a friend of mine had been for many years before it was just too much for him to handle- but I need to know where you are."

Gabby felt really guilty, and she felt like a hypocrite. Not two days ago, she was chewing out Barbara for going offline on the comms without Gabby being able to know where she was, and here she was doing the same sort of thing to her mother. With people going missing everyday, only to be found dead or not at all, Gabby felt bad that she had put her mother through this. "Other than school, there is no other way for us to be together, Mom," Gabby said. "Dinah's mother doesn't let her visit other people's houses, except for Cammie's, but that is only because Cammie lives down the block."

"Maybe if I speak with her mother, she will know that it is okay for Dinah to stay over here, and that you are a friend who can be trusted. My parents spoke to my friend's parents all the time."

Gabby realized that she couldn't really get out of this very well, and her scapegoat wasn't working. She stayed silent, but she nodded. "I'll let her know."

"Is she the only one you see?"

"Her, and sometimes Cammie, but Cammie's got a boyfriend now, so we see her hardly ever except to double date," Gabby said. Her mother stared at her.

"I don't want to be the one to tell you that you can't see her. I could care less that you're gay, you know that. That isn't what this is about."

"I know, Mom," Gabby said softly, and she really did. Her parents knew that Gabby was gay since she was five years old and told some woman on the subway that she was cute, and then continued to stare at her and get shy.

Gabby's mother was silent for a minute as if to think this over. "Damn you for turning 16," she said. "I'm going to have to break down and buy you a damn cellphone," she continued to say. Gabby wasn't sure what this meant. "If I do, you must promise to keep it on and to stay close. If you don't make me regret this, we'll see about extending your curfew, but don't quote me on that."

Gabby wasn't sure why her mother was suddenly letting her get away with this. Part of her was sure that her mother was letting her grow up, but another part of her wasn't sure that her mother wasn't about to get some tracking device put in the said cellphone. "Uh- Can I still go and see Dinah tonight, though?" Gabby asked.

"Where?"

"Chinatown," Gabby responded quickly.

"Yeah, but stay a while. I've got dinner, and though I'm sure you already ate, I haven't seen much more than the back of you the last few weeks."

'Way to lay on the guilt,' Gabby thought, but she tested the waters to see if this meant she was really in trouble or if her mother had just realized that Gabby was growing up."Okay. Um, I need to put my bag away and start homework."

"Dinner in fifteen," her mother said, turning and walking into the living room, where the news was on.

'That explains what just happened,' Gabby thought to herself. She hurried into her room and touched her earpiece. "Oracle to Babybat."

[Babybat.] Barbara's voice filled her ear a second later.

"Tonight's a go. I'm going to hell for the lies I just told, so I never want to hear you tell me that I'm not commited," Gabby said in a whisper.

[Not to encourage lying, but I'm glad. ETA?]

"I'd say about..." Gabby looked at the alarm clock next to her. "7:30."

[Why so long?]

"Lying comes with a price, and this time its dinner with my mother."

[Alright. I will see you at 7:30.]

"Give or take," Gabby cut in.

[Give or take.] Barbara repeated. [Babybat out.]

"Okay, later."


	7. Chapter 7

As History Repeats

**This chapter was inspired by supenena (hope I got that right). Thanks for the PM. I went back to check the chapter and realized that I didn't have much left before it was finished.**

Chapter 7

"Either my mother is trying to figure out a way to keep a close watch on me from now on, or she is trying to let me be my own person. I have yet to figure out which one, and I am not sure if I want to know just yet. Either way, I'd say we have a good couple of weeks." Gabby said this as her bgreeting when she waltzed into the main room where the Delphi system was set up.

"What was this week's lie?" Barbara asked, not looking up from what looked to be a motherboard from a peice of the Delphi. Gabby was glad her mentor wasn't looking, because she winced again.

"It was some big lie about my friend Dinah and her supposedly strict mother. My mom assumed she was my girlfriend when she gave me a ride home afterschool, and I... sort of went along with it."

Now Barbara looked up. "What?"

"What else could I say? It seemed to be the only story that my mother would believe, and I am actually surprised she bought it," Gabby said defensively. Barbara's head tilted slightly as if to say 'Right, really?', and the teen just shrugged at her.

"I don't know if she bought it, exactly, but I don't understand why she would suddenly put trust in you." As she spoke, Barbara's head went back down as she returned her concentration to the work she was doing, which to Gabby, was nothing more than poking at some microscopic wiring with the pointed part of her flat headed screw driver.

Gabby sank into a chair and let out the smallest of moans. "I don't either. It is driving me crazy, and I am wondering if that is my mother's intention, to guilt me into telling her my secrets."

"Is it working?" Barbara asked as she put the motherboard away and studied Gabby. The blonde shrugged, but she didn't reply at first.

"I wouldn't give us away, if that's what you're asking," she finally said, a hint of defenciveness in her voice.

"I know you wouldn't, at least, not on purpose," Barbara said carefully. Gabby's eyebrow rose, but she stayed quiet. Barbara looked at her protoge', assessing her to see if the teen was now angry, but both od thier faces seemed masked of emotion. There was the small aggitated fidget that told the redhead that Gabby was a little upset by this. "I'm not saying that I don't trust you with this, Gabby-"

"How can you say what you just said and then turn around and tell me that?" the teen scoffed.

"If I didn't trust you with this, you think you'd be here right now? I'm just saying that things happen, and sometimes people find out. I mean, that is what happened with you."

"So this is your way of saying be careful?"

"Yes."

"I will," Gabby said, but there was a little huff in her voice. There was a small silence.

"Good."

"So..." Gabby said after a few moments of silence, "what am I doing tonight?"

"I was going to gut the Delphi and show you how to put a couple of the peices back together, but I thought we might not have the time, since you got here pretty late and all." Before Gabby could argue that, the redhead continued, "And I know that wasn't your fault entirely."

"What're we gonna do instead?" Gabby asked, deciding that she would rather move on than to continue to argue with her mentor.

"Well, I know we've got to go over the security feed from last night to see what happened. You said something about a door?" Barbara also picked up on the change and knew it was best they got to work right away, since there wasn't much time to waste that night. She still had to go out as Batgirl, but she also needed to make sure that she knew what she was looking for that night and if she had to be extra careful in certain areas now that there was another metahuman that she had to avoid or possibly reprehend.

"Yeah. One of the men was looking at the door when the cops came. And there was something in one of the windows. Someone was looking in the window, or there was a reflection of a feminine figure. I don't know if she was in the building with them or not. It was just a short little glimpse." Barbara nodded at this, and then patted the table next to one of the keyboards of the Delphi. Gabby kicked off from the floor and let her chair glide in that direction, resisting the juvinile urge to let loose a small 'whee!' along the way.

"Alright, I want you to go through the files from the night before. Get to the hostage times and lock in on both the door and the figure you saw. See if you can get a closer look and run the facial recognition program. I will search the security cameras of the buildings around the- Thanks Alfred," Barbara said as the butler placed a cup of something steaming, which Gabby assumed was tea in front of her, "-around the credit union to see if maybe I can get a better look. She might be the woman who fought with Huntress."

"And if she is Carolyn's daughter, someone must have found her and trained her. It is possible it is someone you knew. You might recognize her fighting style," Gabby suggested. Barbara turned in her chair and looked at Gabby, surprise evident in her eyes.

"That makes a lot of sense. How else would she know to come here to New Gotham if someone hadn't sought her out and trained her?"

Gabby nodded and went to work on the task Barbara told her to do, and for a few minutes, there was nothing but silence and clicks from the keyboards. "Barbara," Gabby said after a while.

"Yeah Gabby?" Barbara replied right away, making a couple of clicks and then turning again in her chair.

"Look at this. It isn't a door, but it looks like it could be. It just... I don't know, has this really... obvious look of a door, but it seems to just be a decoration- part of the wallpaper-ish markings along the top near the ceiling."

"That is strange. If they are hiding a door there, they are being really obvious about it."

"Do you think there really is something to hide then?" Gabby asked, shifting the image slightly to get a better look at the so called 'door', and then making the image go back to its original size. "It could just be a ruse, and whatever these guys were looking for is somewhere else- if not in the building, then somewhere else entirely."

"I think you're right. We still don't know if whatever they were after is still there, or if, as you say, is somewhere else. I will have to investigate later tonight. Since this building is a Wayne Enterprise side company, I will have access to the building." Barbara did a little more work on the Delphi. "What about the girl? Did you find the image of her?"

"Actually, right here in this frame. After looking at the footage, I found the shadow, but all I saw was blackish hair and the side of her face. She's wearing a mask, and here, going closer," Gabby said, as she made a few adjustments to the stilled servailence footage and had it give a closer shot of the figure, "you can sort of see the eye. Does that mask look familiar at all?"

"Yes."

"They are those white, expressionless masks. Creepy, if you ask me."

Barbara let out a laugh at this. "Not your thing, huh?"

"Man, if you're gonna wear a mask, you might as well make it something. Paint a squibbly on it- or something!" Gabby said as she brought up an even closer image of the female in the blank mask. "She's tall, this girl. Lean. She seems about 58', 5'9. If you look at the way the hair moves, I'd bet its a wig."

"No real hair, no real face, no real identity. She isn't an amature," Barbara said, more in a murmur to herself than out loud to Gabby.

"Her hands are covered in gloves, she's wearing a body suit. Hot, by the way-"

"Gabby, no drooling over the enemy," Barbara said, but her voice wasn't stern, but absent as she, too, tried to find footage of this girl.

"Hey, this person has no real identity, so oggling's free until we figure out who she really is."

"True, but if you get saliva all over the keyboards, there wouldn't be much chance of us ever finding out who she is," Barbara shot back without missing a beat.

"Well, she's young. She can't be older than 25," Gabby guessed.

"Mmmhm," Barbara said as she put in more information into the Delphi. "What else?"

"Uh... Well... Ah! Here," Gabby said as she replayed the security footage with the close up. "Okay, it isn't the reflection- she is outside- But look, the hand that is showing here? Its clenched. I think she is nervous, which may have been why she was ducking in to take a look. I don't think this operation was supposed to have taken as long as it did."

"Very good, Gabby," Barbara said. She really was impressed by how smart Gabby was, despite what people might think of her from the start. She is far more observant than she is given credit for. "Ah! Gothcha now," Barbara said as she pulled up a strange angle of the Huntress and the mystery girl in a fight.

It looked almost as though the girl was sneaking around and keeping watch. For Batgirl? For the police? It wasn't really known who she was waiting for, but she was definately the lookout. Then, when Huntess swooped down on her, the mystery girl was ready to fight. Objects moved around, startling Huntress a little bit, but the short haired brunette moved smoothly and swiftly to dodge them.

"Who's drooling now?" Gabby asked as she studied her mentor, whose eyes were fixed on the figure of the Huntress.

"Shush," the redhead replied. Gabby laughed as Barbara huffed, and then tried to pull up a closer angle. She could barely see how the mystery girl moved. "She doesn't seem to be on the offencive right now. She heavily depends on her powers. She seems more bark than bite, but if she learned... Her bite could become deadly," Barbara said.

"But you just said that she's not an amature," Gabby argued.

"Maybe not with hiding. Even as she uses her powers, she knows how to conceal herself," Barbara said.

"So..." Gabby looked at the screens as well, comparing the angles of the mystery girl. "It looks like we've got to speak with Kitten Britches to see if maybe she spoke to her at all, or if she could see this girl's eye color."

"Even if Huntress saw this girl's eyes, you think she wore contacts? I mean, she covered herself really well." Barbara said as she stared at the screens. The redhead leaned back in her chair and rubbed her eyes at this. In her mind, she asked herself over and over if this girl really was Carolyn's daughter or another girl who had by chance gotten this power. Barbara didn't believe in coincidences, and she doubted that Gabby did either. She knew that this girl had to be Carolyn's daughter, and that she had to find a way to help her before it was too late.

"This is true," Gabby said softly after a pause to think about it.

"But the voice is hard to make out in a fight," Barbara continued on, "Unless you have something against your voicebox shifting the sound of it, Huntress might be able to tell us more and give us a better estimate to just how old she is. It's possible that there might be more clues that Huntress picked up face to face with her that we can't see from these camera angles."

"When are you leaving?" Gabby asked as she ran her right hand through her blonde curls.

"Now. As soon as I get changed." Barbara stood up and looked at her protoge', wondering what was on the blonde's mind, but she wasn't sure if she had the time to ask.

Gabby nodded. "Alright."


	8. Chapter 8

As History Repeats

**Hopefully this chapter and the next will be a bit longer due to metahuman action. This has more Hnutres/Batgirl interaction as well, for those who were waiting for it.**

Chapter 8

[I thought you said she'd be here,] Gabby heard as she sat at the Delphi. Batgirl's harsh whisper cut in to her mental debate of whether she should wear a mask when she worked on the Delphi or if it would just be lame in the end. She had just opted for 'lame' when she heard her mentor.

"I called the payphone next to the Dark Horse Bar where she was last spotted. She answered. She said she'd be here." The teen exchanged a look with Alfred, who only shook his head and removed the mug in front of her (possibly stolen from an optomotrist, since it had one large eye on it and nothing else) and walked away.

"She's late," Barbara muttered, slightly annoyed. She stared at one of the creepy gargoyls of the New Gotham Clocktower, and then her eyes went to the ledge. She knew that Huntress could easily get up to where she was, as she'd chased her up that way only three nights ago. Barbara opted for the elevator this time around, thank you very much.

"You aren't worried about me, now are you, Baby Bat?" a new voice spoke up, and both Gabby and Barbara's shoulders tensed for different reasons upon hearing it. Huntress was crouched on the ledge, one hand in front of her holding on, and the other up, as if she was riding a bull. She looked down for a second while she gained more balance, and then hopped down easily. When she straightened up, she looked at Batgirl. "I had to get home and change. Didn't want you to see me looking like a drowned cat. So," Huntress said, sauntering towards Batgirl playfully, "to what do I owe the honor of your summon?"

[She's here- obviously. Switching to speaker only,] Batgirl reported seriously, her eyes never leaving the brunette's as she spoke. She brought a finger to her ear, but she didn't otherwise move until she got the okay from Oracle.

"Tell the voices I say hello and to not stay up so late on a school night," Huntress added in.

"Har har," Oracle said humorlessly, though she worried that the woman knew more about her than the blonde knew about the night hunter. "Speaker only. Confirmed," she added, and pressed a few buttons and switched it over so that she could hear the conversation and check Batgirl's vital signs, which had accelerated slightly since Huntress' appearance. This was normal, though, Gabby knew, so she wasn't worried. There was the beeping sound that alerted Oracle that her comments would be blocked out for a little while unless it was an emergency, in which case, the blonde knew how to override the command.

"Thank you for coming," Batgirl started off by saying, though she regretted her choice of words as soon as she saw the dark woman's face.

"Heh, give me a few minutes, and I'm sure this won't be the only time you say that tonight," Huntress remarked.

"You know what I meant. I called you here because I need to talk to you about the woman you fought last night, the one with the screeching power."

"Yeah? Is that all you wanted to talk about?" Huntress purred. Apperently, she wasn't in the mood for serious talk, and she'd rather it was some super secret booty call.

"Well, since you won't tell me what I want to know, then yes, that is the only thing we can talk about," Batgirl responded, taking a step back from the advancing woman. The superhero's voice was slightly colder, and even Oracle was surprised to hear it like that towards Catwoman's daughter.

"Sad," was all Huntress said in responce, but Gabby could hear the slight disappointment there, as if the dark woman was telling the truth of that statement.

There was a pause, and Gabby tried to listen hard for evidence that something was happening. She didn't have any security footage of the top of the Clocktower. "Can you tell us more about her?" Batgirl asked after a moment.

"What if I can?"

"What do you mean, 'what if you can'?"

"What will you give me if-"

"This isn't a game. The one you fought last night was a look out for the men who was involved in that hostage situation. That team was looking for something inside the building- something that I don't even think the hostages knew about, and if this girl is who I think she is, then we could be screwed if we don't find her, alright?"

"Alright, Red, I'll play nice. For now, but you owe me."

"I owe you nothing," Batgirl replied. There was a small laughter from Huntress, as if she didn't believe that to be true.

"Fine, be that way, Baby Bat." Another silence. "The chick I was fighting? She was tough, but not all that skilled. I mean, in a physical fight, I could take her without powers. But she could throw things with her mind, and then there was that mind melding screech she did. I mean, it shattered the glass and stuff," Huntress said. "Do you know who she is?"

"Kind of, I mean we have suspitions," Batgirl said.

"We?"

"The voice and I," Batgirl clarified with a slight smirk. Huntress grinned at this.

"So who is she?"

"I'll ask the questions, alright? We don't have much time tonight."

"Alright, give me your worst. Interrogate me." As Oracle heard this, she knew there was a sexual innuendo somewhere. She knew that Barbara was most likely getting leered at, and she wondered how Barbara could keep herself from either slapping or ravishing the Huntress. She wondered how someone could be so bold as to put it all out there like that. Then again, she also wondered why it could be so hard to simply say 'I want you' instead of playing games while dancing around a burning bush about it.

"Describe her to me," Batgirl said, even though both she and Gabby knew what she looked like.

"Well, she was tall. As tall as me- No, she is taller than me because I was in these cute as hell boots that have a little bit of a heel to them, and her boots had some heel, but not much, while mine were almost a full inch," the Huntress said. Gabby tucked this bit of informtaion in the back of her mind about Huntress as well. If they guessed the mystery woman to be 5'8 or 5'9, then the Huntress was between the hights of 5'6 and 5'8. It would help them try and identify who she really is later on if it came down to them needing to find her. "She had black hair- extensions, I'd guess, since it didn't really look all that real. She wore a mask. It was blank, expressionless. Creepy."

Gabby heard Batgirl laugh somewhat ironically at this. "Well, at least we can agree on something, Kitten," Gabby muttered as she continued to listen in on the conversation. She saw Alfred looking through a large key ring of keys, and she wondered what he was looking for and why he hadn't found it yet. Hadn't everything gotten a card key with ultra new technology advances to them by now, where the common key was obsolete in Wayne Manor?

"What about her fighting? Anything stand out to you?" Batgirl asked, bringing Gabby's mind back to the tasks at hand.

"No, just that she fought with her powers. We barely exchanged blows."

"Did you see any skin? Do you know what her nationality might be? What her eye color was?" Batgirl asked.

"I remember seeing the side of her face, and she's white. Like, almost pale. But I didn't see her eyes. There must have been some sort of cloth over where the eyes would be, like, behind the mask?"

"Damn," Batgirl said.

Gabby jumped when there was a sudden blaring sound on the Delphi, warning her that an alarm in the New Gotham prison was going off. Then, as Gabby was trying to figure out what was happening there in the prison, one of the larger buildings downtown had one of their alarms triggered. "Damn," she echoed. She started typing in the commands to pull up the information she needed. It wasn't a hostage situation, but from what she saw on the security cameras, it was the same three men who had escaped, and then over at the alarm of the fiancial building to see if she could alert police about that. She kicked off from the floor and had the chair glide over to the other components of the Delphi to override the speaker only option it had been on. [Batgirl to Oracle. Sorry to cut this short, but there has been another break-in. Not just that, but someone busted out of the New Gotham prison, and I think that might make it difficult for police to respond to the break-in. The same three men are the ones who broke free, and over at the building break-in, it is a different set of people- five of them. Carolyn's daughter might be there with these people.]

"Copy." Batgirl looked up at Huntress, who seemed to know what was coming next. The redhead didn't voice her concernes, which were mostly about the fact that the men who were taken into custody the night before had somehow escaped. Seeing as two of them had some sort of metalic metahuman ability, she shouldn't have been too surprised. She frowned. She should have been sure they put them in Arkham the night before, not jail.

"Where's the party?" Huntress asked.

"You're not coming with," the superhero said automatically, even though she was unsure what to do about the two places as once going off at the same time. It was apperent that the two groups were related, one side getting out of prison while the other side going to finish off whatever it was they had started before, only in a different building.

"Why not?" Huntress asked, somewhat wounded, "This chick sounds like a problem. This city is just as much mine as it is yours. You know, as the resident villain here, I got first dibs."

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend?"

Huntress took a step closer, so close was she now that Batgirl could feel the other woman's breath on her. "I never thought of us as enemies, per se', Batgirl." The brunette nuzzled her nose into red hair, took in a deep breath, and let it out happily. When she leaned back, Batgirl saw how feral the other woman was, how much like her mother she was. "In fact, I always hoped that you and I could become very, very good... friends." Huntress leaned forward slowly, and stopped for the slightest moment before she took possession of the redhead's lips.

There was a pause before Batgirl backed away from the kiss, and yet another moment after that before she spoke again. "Stop it. If you want in, fine. I could use the help out here. At least until this settles down. But no funny buisness, and if you betray me out there, you ARE going down."

"Anything you want, Red," was all Huntress said in return. She winked.

"Let's go. Batgirl to Oracle, I need to know where to go."

[It is in the Fairview Financial building. Batgirl, these men escaped from jail last night. Be careful.]

"You know I will. Stand by," Batgirl said, putting the link so that it was in its normal mode.

[Oracle standing by.]

"Fairview Financial it is," Huntress said. When the redhead's look became somewhat shocked, Huntress continued, "Great hearing. Possibly the best part about being a mutant."

"We prefer the term 'metahuman'," Batgirl replied somewhat automatically.

"Prefer what you like, Red. The bottom line is that we're freaks."

When Gabby heard these words, she flinched, even though she was in the realm of normal. "I wouldn't say that," Barbara almost chided.

"You don't have to. We just know. Here Red, we'll take the shortcut down."

"The elevator-"

"Scared?"

"Of free falling close to a thousand feet to my death? What gave you that idea?" Barbara asked sarcastically.

"I won't let you get hurt. Think of this as our first trust excersise. Since I am in no mood to die tonight, you'll be safe, I promise." There was silence, and then the sound of moving leather.

"Don't like this too much," Barbara said.

"Right back 'atcha, Baby Bat."

The next thing Gabby heard were Batgirl's scream, the quicking beeps from Batgirl's vitals, and Huntress' whoop of laughter as the teen assumed they dropped. There was a thud, a small clump, and another laugh from Huntress. "Oh... God!" Gabby heard her mentor say. "I am not doing that again." The teen almost started laughing at this. She wished she knew where they were, so she could see the look on Barbara's face and flip her shit about it later. It wasn't every day that she saw Barbara less than calm and collected.

"I told you that you'd be alright," came Huntress' laughing voice. "Trust me now?"

"Yeah, I trust you. I have to after that. Okay, gimme a minute to recover from that..." Barbara said, and Gabby listened closely. "Oracle, I am at Clocktower base north," Batgirl reported after another moment of the redhead catching her breath. "I'll take the new building break-in while Huntress covers the prison break out."

"Yeah, I think I can handle the boys in blue," Huntress added.

[Aknowledged,] Gabby said at the same time, then she went to work bringing up the security cameras around each location, including where the two night hunters currently stood. When she saw her mentor, she was taking something out of her utility belt. She watched as Barbara used her cables, and Gabby did her best to keep up with her as Huntress followed after Batgirl, jumping the rooftops as easily as if she was playing with a jump rope. Gabby really could watch this figure all night. Though she didn't have the hots for Kitten Britches the way that Barbara denied, she still had to admit that this woman was sleek in her movements and definately worth watching.

Gabby flipped through and found the security cameras from buidings along the way, following Batgirl and Huntress' progress towards the Fairview Financial building, and then a little more Northeast as Huntress broke away from Batgirl and headed towards the prison. Then something else caught her attention. There was movements on the camera up on the screen for the credit union, since the glass was gone, and the security there was down after the Canary Cry had its way. So far there were police on guard around it, as they were sure that the trio who escaped would come back for it. Of couse, Oracle knew better now, but she wondered if the trio was going to the Financial building or if everything was a ruse to get Batgirl away from the credit union. "I should have seen that coming. We both should have," Gabby said to herself. She opened up the comm and said, [Oracle to Batgirl.]

"Yes Oracle," the redhead responded breathlessly after a moment.

[I've spotted movement on the camera at the credit union. All police outside are in their positions. I think this might be her.]

"I am right here at the Financial building," Barbara said, "I do not think I can get away now."

[I will attempt to call Gibson at No Man's Land to see if he can recuit someone to help with back up,] Gabby said.

Gabby began to do just that, but there was no answer on the phone at No Man's Land, both the collectables shop (which she knew she wouldn't get since it was after hours), the hidden portion's private phone, and she even called Gibson at home. She didn't get him at either of those places. She really needed to contact someone from the hideout of No Man's Land, especially the older worker there code named 'Frosty', if she couldn't get Cam the Chamelion. She then tried to call for a superhero who had helped Barbara once or twice while Gabby had known her named Darkstrike. She didn't know if she trusted him or not, and Batgirl was already forced to fight by the side of her enemy, even though she admitted to trusting Huntress. Gabby still wasn't sure. Though Huntress was often running off with something or another, she never actually hurt Batgirl when they fought. She knew that the dark woman was just playing with her mentor. Darkstrike, however, gave Gabby the heebie jeebies, and she would easily pick Huntress over him at Batgirl's side.

Gabby tried a couple of other superheroes who were once in the area, whether they were retired from crime fighting or not. Perhaps Batgirl had built up enough street cred that someone would be honor bound to come help her this time. No one was ever there, and Darkwing was too far away in Bludhaven to be of any use.

"What do I do?" Gabby asked herself.

"Perhaps I could be of some assistance, Miss Gabby?"

The voice right behind her and a little to her right made her jump practically out of her seat entirely. She made her chair swirve slightly so she could look at Alfred, but still keep her eye on the screens as well. It was no easy feat. Draped over his arms was a black material that at first glance was a copy of Batman's body suit. "Alfred?" she asked. "I wouldn't ask you to go out there-"

"You misunderstand, Gabby." The teen turned her body for a moment so she could look completely at Alfred, but kept glancing over her shoulder at the screens to make sure things were still okay out there. Then she looked back to Alfred, who had opened up the cloth to reveal that it was indeed another Bat body suit, almost identicle to Batgirl's, only slightly smaller. "We both know that I am too old to go out there now. When Miss Barbara informed me that she had a run in with a student, and then later used the same student's home for a place to hide, I knew that it was only a matter of time before you graced us with your presence here at Wayne Manor. I made this for you, assuming that Barbara would train you in the night to take her place as Batgirl while she took my place at the Delphi. Perhaps I could become Oracle again for a couple of hours...?" The butler trailed off as Gabby's eyes widened.

"No- I mean- I can't! I don't fight!"

"You know how each tool on the utility belt works. Let them guide you. Let me guide you."

"In theory, yes, I know how each tool on the utility belt works, but I have never been trained to use the batarang, or- or the cables- god no!" Gabby turned slightly to look back at the screens to keep an eye on Batgirl, who was taking her position as she slowly moved around the building. She saw that Huntress was on the roof of the prison building as she watched the uniformed people move about, and the feral woman had her eyes locked, waiting to pounce. Gabby looked back at Alfred, fear in her eyes, pleading with the old man to let her stay there.

"I promise you that I will be right there telling you everything you need to do. All we need is for the lurker to think that Batgirl is near. Perhaps that will scare them off."

"I doubt it- I mean, she fought with Huntress."

"Gabby," the butler said, slightly more stern now, "there is no one else."

This made Gabby freeze, her spine chilling in fear. She knew first hand how true that was, and she knew that if someone really was there at the credit union trying to get something out once more, then she was sure that they won't quit until they get what they are after, or until they died for it. Part of Gabby always knew there was going to be a night where she had to do something like this in order to help Batgirl, since she was the only one other than the redhead fit to do the job. With Huntress there, she was almost sure that she wouldn't have to, but she knew that was silly. The teen wished that she knew more about the tools on the utility belt.

"Gabby..." The teen looked up at the butler after he spoke, and their eyes locked. "I think I know what it is they want. It had been there for close to a decade now; I simply forgot about it. I am sure that Master Bruce had as well, or he would have relocated them by now. You need to retrieve it," the old man said. Gabby took in a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly as she fought her fear.

Slowly, she reached out, and she took the body suit.


	9. Chapter 9

As History Repeats

Chapter 9

Batgirl stood on the roof of the financial building, waiting for an update from Gabby, but the line had gone quiet for quite some time. She figured this meant that she was trying to find some way to help Huntress over at the prison, or an escape route for her. Still, she did worry a little, as normally, Gabby would anounce wha she was doing before she went silent for any reason. Batgirl wondered briefly abolut Huntress, since there wasn't any way for either Batgirl or Oracle to conrtact the feline woman in an emergency. The best course of action would be for Batgirl to get through this quickly and then make her way to the prison break-out.

It was just after she had made that mental decision that Batgirl had seen movement down below on the sidewalk as a few men seemed to be sneaking into the building. She grabbed her bat-noculars and sure enough, there they were, attempting to leave the building without being seen. "Gotcha," Batgirl muttered, replacing the bat-noculars with her cables as she scaled the building quickly and touched the ground just behind the group in a matter of seconds. "Hello Boys," the redhead superhero said casually, "nice night innit?"

"Well, if I'd known how smokin' Batgirl was, I would have become a criminal a long time ago," Said the largest guy, who stood almost hunched forward with long wavey black hair and dark brown eyes.

Batgirl tilted her head and said, "If I'd known how- eh, handsom," (Batgirl rolled her eyes in her mind), "you were you were, I would still have to do this-" Barbara brought her hand back with her fist curled, and caught the man in the side of the face, forcing him to spin, and then fall to the floor. Two of the other four men began to pick him up while the other two still upright seemed to hunch a little in a defencive position. Batgirl was glad to see this. She was kind of itching for a fight.

[Batgirl, this is Oracle.]

Batgirl frowned as she dodged the man who rushed her, sending him to the ground. "Oracle, where is she?" Barbara asked, afraid of saying Gabby's name over the comm. She hadn't expected to hear the gentle male voice in her ear, since she was so used to expecting word from the teen.

[I had to send her to the credit union.] Before Barbara could say something, Alfred continued, [There was no one else.]

"Why, what is going on at the credit union?"

[At the moment, nothing-] Alfred suddenly stopped talking. [hold on. Gabby's heart rate has increased. She was a little nervous earlier-]

"It couldn't possibly have something to do with the fact that you sent her out there alone without much if any training. No!" Batgirl said sarcastically as she grabbed the arm of one of the men and twisted it back while shoving him against the wall of the financial building. The man slid along the wall down to the ground before he climbed the wall to stand again.

"Let's bolt, guys," the largest man said. Batgirl grabbed at the man closest to her, the one who still seemed a bit wobbly on his feet, but he was able to shake her off and follow the others into the darkness.

"Damn it!" Batgirl muttered angrily. "Oracle," the redhead said slowly in a tone that said that she didn't like who the title went to at the moment, "give me an update on her."

[I only had her run an errend. If everything is happening elsewhere, she will be in no danger.]

"I don't get it. If you needed an errand girl, you could have waited until I got back, since I have the access codes to most of the buildings in Wayne Enterprises."

[It needed to be done now before someone tried again.]

"That still doesn't make any sense. Gabby isn't ready."

[As I've been told, however, I don't think that is true.]

Barbara threw her rope tool upwards and let it catch to the fire escape 5 stories up. Then she allowed for it to pull her upwards all the while swinging lightly and catching on to the railing. "It isn't up to you to decide," Batgirl said as soon as she shot the cable again to the next building over as she made her way to the police station. "In the long run, Gabby isn't a fighter. I have a feeling that you wanted that thing- whatever it is, before someone goes after it again, and the fact that you sent Gabby instead of waiting for me to get home, it means that is is something worth going after again-" Batgirl grunted as she got to the rooftop finally and began running. She was no Huntress, but she worked well with what she had. "possibly even tonight. Which makes me wonder why the HELL you sent Gabby out there to get it."

[I understand your concern, but I have been with her this whole time.]

"How long has she been out there now?"

[I would say a half hour now.] Alfred answered. [And I have to get back to her, as I promise to remain constant.

"Yes, do that. I will be at the prison with Huntress and try to stay within visual range."

[Good. Switching channels. Standby.]

"Batgirl standing by," Batgirl echoed. She made her way across New Gotham, her mind on her protoge'. She hoped that Gabby was alright out there, and she told herself she was going to have to hurry to the credit union to watch over her to make sure her mission goes as well as it could go. After all, part of having someone on your side is to also watch eachother's back. And by now, Barbara did think of Gabby as her partner, since the teen had been able to keep her safe for a couple of months now. The least she could do was return the favor.

"Babybat," Huntress said happily once the redhead landed beside the feline woman, "I was starting to think that I was being stood up."

"Like you'd allow that," Barbara retorted as she extracted her cables from the wall and let it wind itself back before she put it on her utility belt.

"Not a chance."

Barbara nodded to this, and she would have continued their line of banter, but she needed to get in and out so that she could go help Gabby. "Love to stay and chat, but I need to leave ASAP. Sort of an emergency, so... What'd I miss?"

"Honestly? Not a whole lot." The feral woman made a haldhearted wave towards the group of police men down below. "If you ask me, I think you got some false leads."

"What?" Barbara asked, looking over to the brunette.

"Face it, you went to the financial building, right? Well, you're back quick, aren't you? And now, all I see here are a bunch of blues standing around. Where is the break out?"

"You're right. This is really strange. The guys at the financial building were quick to run away, as if they hadn't actually planned to be there, and now there doesn't seem to be anthing going on."

"I'll go down and talk to the detective. I've seen him around before. I think he's clean. I'll see what's going on. I'll be right back."

"Here. Take this," Batgirl said, taking off one of her comm rings. She knew that with it, she could hear what the 'clean detective' said as well.

"Okay. I'll be right back."

"I can't give you more than five minutes, so find things out. I have to go to my partner."

"Your... partner," the brunette asked.

"The nervous tick? SOMEONE..." Barbara sighed. "Never mind."

"Alright, I'll hurry. Hey, maybe after this we could...?"

"We'll see," Batgirl said after a slight moment of consideration.

the Huntress smiled. "Okay." With that the feral woman was gone, and Batgirl looked over the edge just in time to see her land behind the detective. The man was tall, and looked African American, and wore a grey shirt and dark pants. In a time before meeting the night hunter, Barbara might have thought him attractive, not that she would admit out loud that she'd ruled out dating men (or anyone, really) since meeting the Huntress.

[Hey,] the Huntress said to the detective.

[Wha- Shi... You scared me. Who... ARE you?] he asked after spinning on his heel. Batgirl smirked at this, imagining the look on his face. She suspected it was the same as the look she often had the first couple of times she had encountered the Huntress, especially when he figured out that the slitted pupils were not contacts. The redhead watched as the detective took a small step away from the feral woman.

[Show me yours I'll show you mine,] the Huntress replied silkily. Barbara saw the movement and assumed when he held his arm out that he was showing the brunette his badge.

[Alright, Detective... Reece. You can call me Huntress.]

There was a sarcastic sort of chuckle from the man, and Batgirl heard, [That's it?]

[Sorry. In a world where I could be sliced and diced like a lab cat, I've gotta be careful. So... What's going on here? What happened?] Huntress asked to take the topic away from herself.

[Why should I tell you?]

[Don't be like that, Detective.] Batgirl could hear the flirtatious tone and rolled her eyes. It was so much like the tone she took with the redhead, and it made her wonder if that was just the way that the Huntress operated. If she charmed her way into getting what she wantecd from people. She shook her head of the though and continued to listen in. [Just because I can't tell you my name doesn't mean we can't still share and relate.]

[Uh-huh. Well, it looks like I am the only one doin' any sharing or relating.]

[Alright. I will tell you what I know, and you can just fill in the rest, then.]

[Maybe,] the dark man replied

[I'll take that as a compromise. See, sharing... relating... It'll be awesome. Now, what I know,] the Huntress said, stressing the word 'I', [is that there was an alarm triggered both here and at the financial building, and yet when we got there-]

[Wait. We?]

[Ah ah ah,] the brunette said. [Anyway, it all seems too easy. And now there are talks of a break out, but I don't see anyone bustin' out. So... What's the deal?]

[To be honest with you, I don't know.]

[Really?] Huntress said, her tone having not changed.

Barbara's teeth clenched, and she touched her ear peice as she said, "Batgirl to Oracle."

[Oracle here,] came the reply a few seconds later.

"I am on the roof of the prison. Please send the Batbike around the corner to 56th avenue. I'm going to Gabby." Even as she spoke, she used her cables to scale the side of the building quickly so as to not be seen by anyone. She had no way of noticing the light eyes watching her before conneting again with dark brown.

[Well Detective, it was nice. Relating... all that. I have to go.]

[Now?]

[Yes, now. I'm sure we'll meet again.]

[I'm not sure if I'm happy or sad to hear that.]

Batgirl hurried away from the cops and the scene, stopping only when she heard the familiar and almost comforting sounds of her beloved bike coming towards her. She immediately hopped on, took off her glove and pressed her hand on the small black part of the bike was right under the gages. There was a light as a lazer scanned her hand and finger prints, and the bike's rumbling shifted under her as it went from autopilot to manual. "Hold on Gabby. I'm coming."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Gabby took in a couple of deep breaths as she made her way slowly around the building to the credit union, one hand out stretched behind her and her back to the wall. She concentrated on keeping her breathing as silent as possible, but still she could hear its raggedness as she took another step to round the corner. Everything about her felt fake or borrowed, which made her glad that she wasn't a real superhero. She felt foolish and almost naked in the Bat costume, the material stretched tightly around her body in a way that she had only seen on her mentor and one Seven of Nine from Star Trek: Voyager. The only difference was, she didn't have to body to pull off such a suit. The rest of the costume (her boots, gloves, cape, utility belt and hair tie) had been borrowed from Batgirl, except for her mask, which was black and covered most of her face, leaving about two inches of skin from the corner of her right eye down to the left corner of her lips exposed in a strange Phantom of the Opera knock off. Gabby took another step, willing her body to somehow go into some sort of stealth mode, which was going to be extremely difficult considering the fact that she had just gotten out of the awkward stage in her life where her stealth mode was walking through her house without knocking something over. She stopped again, adjusting her body suit for the hundredth time.

[Your vital signs show that you heart rate has quickened. Are you alright out there?] came the gentlemanly voice in her ear. Gabby sucked in a gasp of air, as she hadn't expected to hear the voice so soon.

"Gah-!" Gabby called. "You scared me, Oracle."

[I'm terribly sorry.]

"It's okay. A pin could drop and I'd jump a mile," Gabby admitted.

[Are you afraid?]

"Yes," Gabby said quietly.

[But you are alright otherwise?] he asked again.

"Yes," Gabby repeated.

[Good.]

With that, Gabby turned the corner slowly, her back still against the wall she turned her head, craning it as far behind her and around the corner as she could. She saw a couple of police officers there, guarding the credit union now that it was windowless thanks to the Canary Cry. The police officers both saw her, but then turned their heads again as if to not acknowledge her again. She thought it was slightly odd, but she was glad that they didn't try and stop her from crossing the yellow tape across what used to be the windows. Gabby continued on towards what looked to Gabby to be a door when she saw it on the security cameras, but she wondered really if she had made the right assumption about it. It looked from this new close angle like nothing more than eccentric wallpapering, still, it was set in a very odd spot, and it was the only one of its kind. If there WASN'T something there, then Gabby couldn't understand why someone might assume that there might be something there. Gabby wished, not for the first or last time that night, that Batgirl had done this mission instead, and she wondered what could have been so damned important that Gabby had to go and get this thing NOW.

Gabby listened to the crunch of glass under her as she took a couple more steps towards the 'door'. "I am here, Oracle," she announced in a low voice, knowing that Alfred would hear it.

[At what you thought was a door?] Alfred asked.

"Yes."

[Take out the pen laser from the belt and point it to the right, near the rose design,] Alfred instructed. Gabby reached down and grabbed for the pen shape at her hip and took it out. She twisted the top portion of the pen roughly, and the red laser came on, pointing the blonde in the eye.

"Gerr-" Gabby called out, pointing the laser towards the wall. She paused for a moment as she tried to rid her eyes of stars, and then she pointed it where the butler told her to. On the wall appeared to be a highlighter-blue colored calculator, and Gabby walked up to it, holding the laser's light at the wall. "Okay... now what?" She asked, adjusting the body suit.

[Key in the following sequence: 1, 0, 7, 9, 6, 5, 3, 9, 8, 8]

"Alright..." Gabby said. She pressed her finger to the wall and was surprised when she noticed that the wall was softer under her gloved fingertips. She even felt that part of the wall go in a little bit, and like dough, slowly rise back up to form the wall again. "Weird," Gabby murmured. As soon as she got the last eight punched in, there was a click, which made the teen jump again, and then she looked to see that the 'door' was in fact a door. Well, she had known that by now, but after the doubt, she was glad to be confirmed as right. Slowly, Gabby turned her back so that it was against the wall, and she slipped inside. When she turned around again, she was surprised by how clean and well lit the small space seemed to be. There wasn't much to messy the small space, but she assumed that there would still be cobwebs and spiders and other things that Gabby as a girl wouldn't want to have an encounter with. But everything was spic and span, which was odd for a place that was supposedly forgotten about. The teen tucked that in the back of her mind as she took small steps towards the one thing in the room: a small podium with glass over it. Taking a closer look, she saw that inside the glass were what appeared (to Gabby) to be a tattoo gun and about a handful of computer parts. Gabby couldn't imagine what could be so important about these things, but she was a resident of Gotham City, now known as New Gotham. She'd grown up knowing that nothing was ever as it seemed around her city. If nothing else, her running around in a borrowed Bat suit should have told her that. She took the pouch, given to her by Alfred, out and put her hands up towards the glass. Then she paused. "Is it safe?" she asked, suddenly feeling like a caped caper, once that would make Catwoman laugh at her.

[How so, Miss Gabby?] came the reply. Gabby winced at the sound of her name being said over the comm. system, but she didn't give herself a superhero name, knowing that this was just going to be for the night. She knew that this might not have been the only time that she would have to do this, and that she would have to come up with a name sooner or later, but she didn't even have time to get scared and back out of the plan in the first place, let alone come up with a name for herself.

"It's not gonna, like... set off alarms when I touch it, will it?" she asked.

[I disarmed all security protocols on the door and the room as soon as you told me you were right there.]

"Okay. So I just lift the glass and take it, right?"

[You just lift the glass and take it,] Alfred replied with a hint of amusement in his voice. [Then you can hurry back and have some more of that ice-cream in the freezer. Everything will be alright,] he said.

"I almost don't believe you, Oracle," Gabby said. There was a soft chuckle in her ear, and it gave Gabby the confidence to lift the glass carefully (and sure enough all remained quiet), and then set it on the floor. Then she began putting the computer parts into the pouch.

As she tied the pouch onto the utility belt, she heard, [I must switch channels to help out Batgirl and the Huntress. Will you be okay going the rest of your mission alone?]

"Yeah, I suppose so. It seems pretty self explanatory from here," Gabby replied.

[Good. And Gabby?]

"Yes, Oracle?"

[Congratulations on completion of your first mission.]

"Um... thank you," Gabby replied awkwardly. She heard the familiar click of the comm. line going dead, and she shut her eyes tightly, hoping her words to Alfred were correct. She put the glass back, took a step backwards and then spun on her heel to go. In the door way was the woman she wanted to encounter the least. In 3D, she was even more intimidating that she had been on the security cameras. When it seemed Gabby never had to face this woman, she was mysterious- hot even, but nothing more than that. Now as she stood before her, Gabby tried her best not to look at the expressionless mask. She did, however notice that the bit of technology around her throat was now gone, as it had been hit at in the fight with the Huntress. This meant that she probably won't say a word to Gabby as they fought. Just the fact that there WERE about to fight meant that Gabby was in deep trouble.

Gabby stood for a moment, frozen in fear. She was glad that the figure seemed to be slightly confused by her. Was she wondering about who Gabby was? Did she think she was a wannabe Catwoman, or could she see, though her cloaked mask the Bat symbol on the blonde's chest? The two were at a slight standstill, but then Gabby's hand reached down quickly to grasp at something- anything that might do something and help Gabby get out of the credit union before they got into a full scale fight. Finally, her fingers touched around the bat-arang, and she threw it feebly at the figure. She had never used the tools on the utility belt before, but she knew, in theory, what they all did, so her throw did nothing more than hit the figure on the chest and then clatter to the ground. It had its desired effect, for the figure had flinched. This allowed for Gabby to rush the figure, her head down, her shoulder sticking out, as if she were to tackle someone in a football game. The figure went down, and Gabby straightened up. However, right when she was about to reach what used to be one of the windows of the credit union, she too slipped and fell to the glass on the floor. Gabby thought frantically as she hurried to get back on her feet. "Oracle?" she whispered frantically into the comm. link. She regretted letting Alfred leave her alone. She let her eyes scanned for a security camera, but the only one there was busted by the Canary Cry the night before. 'Damn it! That was my time to escape. Now I bet I just pissed her off!'

Sure enough, the woman was faster, and she put her hand up. A blast of energy hit Gabby full in the chest just as she'd staggered to her feet, and she was thrown backwards so hard that she hit against the far back wall of the credit union. Though she tried, she couldn't remain on her feet and she landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. "Well, it was either that or the Canary Cry," Gabby muttered to herself Even as she said this, she wasn't sure which she would rather endure, as her whole body seemed to scream from the impact of that. She wondered how the non-powered people in Buffy, like Xander or Giles, were able to live through some of the things that beat the crap out of them, but then Gabby remembered that it was all TV. Gabby tried not to let out a groan as the figure advanced on her quickly. "The fact that you came back two nights in a row, made up..." Gabby winced as she tried to step away from the approaching woman. "... made up this scheme just to come back and get this again... means that it's important to you... but dangerous to anyone else. It means you can't have it."

This made the figure stop moving, and her head cocked to the side as if to say 'Oh really?' Gabby could tell that the figure didn't see her as any sort of threat, especially since she was somewhat limping now. The figure didn't otherwise say a word, and Gabby didn't think that she would. When Gabby saw the figure's hand once again move upward as if to administer another blast of energy towards her, Gabby ducked to the left, allowing the glass under Batgirl's boots to spin her at a quickened pace and to aid her this time. The blast put a dent in the wall where Gabby once was, and the figure brought her hand up to point again at Gabby, who ducked back to where she was before, narrowly missing the second blast except for on her arm, which rushed backwards to the wall. Gabby heard before she felt the slap of the hand against the wall. "Oracle? Batgirl? Anybody?" Gabby called out, knowing that no one would hear her. The figure stopped for a second, unsure, and then she rushed to Gabby, reaching for the pouch. "NGH-! Gabby grunted at her as she remembered her mission. She didn't want to lose this one, especially not after Alfred had congratulated her on a job well done. Using her good hand to slap the woman's hand away, Gabby rolled over along the wall again and began to run. She knew she wouldn't get far.

Seeing as her other tactics weren't going to work, and seeing as her opponent was doing better than she expected, the figure hurried after this girl. Gabby felt her uninjured arm getting tugged, and she was forced to spin around. She was met with a strong blow to the jaw, which had her slipping to the ground. The figure hit like a girl, and for that, Gabby was grateful, but that didn't mean the blow didn't hurt. The figure stood before her, her shoulders slumped almost in pity, as if she hadn't wanted to do that when Gabby was already injured.

Gabby felt her lip swell and drip with blood as her arm throbbed in pain. She wanted to say 'screw this', but she didn't want to know what would happen if the likes of this woman were to get her hands on the computer pieces she held in possession right then. Who knew, this woman could have been working for some of the bigger players of the Gotham Underground. Plus, part of her was afraid of going back to Wayne Manor empty handed and all messed up like this. As the figure came close to her again, Gabby took in a deep breath and rushed her again. This time, the figure stopped moving and braced herself, but even then the two of them went down, Gabby landing on top of the woman. The figure tried to use her energy blast, but Gabby kept hitting her hand away from her. Gabby felt herself being bucked off of her, and she forced some dirty thoughts out of her mind as she tried not to cry out. Each time the woman tried to kick and buck her off of her, Gabby's arm tingled, causing a new jolt of pain to rush through her. Tears fell under the mask, but she held on.

Then, she hit the only part of the figure that was close to her, which was the side of her head. The figure twisted her body in a way that impressed Gabby, and the wannabe superhero was rolling away from the other woman. Gabby screamed out again, and then she rolled over again, off of her injured arm. As soon as she did so, she saw the figure take off her gloves and reach forward. Too late, Gabby realized what she was doing, as she remembered what the Huntress had said about this woman, how with one touch, this figure could see inside your mind. Gabby let out a gasp and quickly hit her hand away, but a finger had already touched where the figure had hit her, and Gabby felt a small fuzziness in her head. She rolled away again, this time minding the arm. When she looked back, she saw that the pouch had come undone in the scuffle, and the figure was hurrying towards it to pick it up. "No no no no no," Gabby moaned as she stood up and tried to run towards the figure. The mystery woman held her hand out, and Gabby was suddenly forced to the floor. The two of them watched each other for a moment, Gabby wondering what the figure was going to do next, and the figure unsure what to do with the image she got in her head from the brief contact of her index finger to the girl's jaw. Then, the figure shot off. Gabby hurried out of the credit union after her, but as soon as she got to the sidewalk, she saw that it was deserted. She had no way of knowing where the figure had gone.

Gabby noticed that the police men who were there before were now gone, and part of her wondered if perhaps they were working for the figure as a way to alert her of her presence so she could steal the computer components after Gabby had gone in to get them. She had to admit, it was a good plan. But if that was so, what about the prison? What about that financial building? Gabby sighed, rubbing her arm. It didn't hurt as much now, but there was still a slight tingling sensation that told her that she was going to bruise there. She flexed her arm, knowing that wasn't the only place she was going to bruise. She tried to think of an excuse for her mother, as she knew her mom would want to know. The last thing the teen needed was for her mother to think that her imaginary girlfriend was abusive and decide to start keeping a closer watch on her.

Gabby continued to look around frantically for the figure, for any sign of movement. "Damn it!" Gabby suddenly let out angrily. She couldn't believe that she had let the woman get away with the thing she was out to get that night. She didn't have much time to brood on it, however, as she heard the familiar sound of the rumbling Batbike. Sure enough, a second later, the Batbike rounded a corner so quickly that Gabby was surprised Barbara hadn't wiped out. The Batbike came to a complete and perfect stop, but Batgirl had already hopped off of it and was walking quickly towards Gabby. The look of death on the redhead's face made the teen back up.

"What is wrong with you? Come here," Batgirl demanded. Gabby stopped walking backwards and Barbara took her jaw into her fingers gently, positioning it into the lip. Despite this, Gabby winced. Batgirl murmured an explicative towards a certain butler, and Gabby's eyebrows rose. She hadn't expected that at all. "Are you okay?"

Gabby was hesitant, but she nodded. "Nothing a night of sleep and some-"

"Come on, this is me you're talking to," Batgirl interrupted.

"Okay, I'm hurt, but- but I'll live, you know...?" Gabby said.

"Was it her?"

"Yes... it was her." Even as the teen said this, a tear fell down her cheek, suddenly feeling the humiliation of the night and the fact that she hadn't even gotten what she allowed herself to get injured for. "I... I lost it, Barbara," Gabby said so softly that even if others around, only the redhead would have heard it.

"Oh Gabby," Batgirl said, drawing the teen into her, "that doesn't matter." Gabby hissed when she felt Batgirl's arms around her back, and the redhead took a step back to again inspect her. "I'm so sorry I wasn't here earlier to help you fight her. Alfred shouldn't have sent you out. No matter what the circumstance, whether or not he was so sure that woman wouldn't be here. I don't blame you, and if Alfred does, I'll pop him one for you."

Though Gabby knew that Barbara wouldn't assault the man, the image of it did make her feel a little better. Still, she felt guilty that she hadn't been able to retrieve the item. Before she could say anything, however, there was the sound of rushing air, and then the softest of thumps that Gabby wouldn't have heard had she never worked with Alfred and Barbara in the night life. The Huntress stood before them under the streetlight, and Gabby locked eyes with her. The feral woman looked at the teen sympathetically. "Everything okay?" she asked quietly, looking away from Gabby then to Batgirl.

"We're fine," the redhead said crisply, but even as she said that, she seemed to look to Gabby to make sure she hadn't just told a lie. Gabby nodded.

"Yeah," Gabby added with a small nod.

"You left pretty quickly," the Huntress continued as she stared at Batgirl, who kept her eyes everywhere but on the feral woman.

"I had to make sure that my partner was okay," Batgirl said, again tightly. Though Gabby was thrilled that Batgirl had referred her as her partner, she wondered what had happened to make the redhead speak to the Huntress this way. The last she was aware, the two women were so close to doing it.

"Okay," Huntress said softly, and Gabby felt bad for her. The Huntress looked ten times more hurt than Gabby felt at the moment. It was almost enough to forgive the woman for all of the times she called her the Nervous Tick. As if to sense this as Gabby's line of thought, the Huntress turned her head to look at her again and said, "So you're the voice."

"In the flesh," Gabby replied when she heard the teasing in the Huntress' tone. She let out a small laugh, but then winced again as she felt the soreness in her back and arm.

"I've got to take her home," Batgirl said.

"Sure," Huntress replied. All of them knew that the Huntress wanted to say something, to protest somehow, but decided against it. Instead, she said, "See you around?"

Barbara didn't reply to this as both she and Gabby made it to the Batbike. Gabby stared at it for a second as she felt a hint of dread. She watched as Batgirl hopped on expertly, and waited for the teen to join her. Slowly, Gabby got onto the bike behind her mentor and felt little awkward. Once she settled in, she put her hands on Batgirl's shoulder because she felt it would have been weird if she were to wrap her arms around her English Lit teacher's waist in order to hold on. As if to know these thoughts, Batgirl said, "It may seem weird, but if you fall off, you're going to hurt more than you do now," over the engine as it came to life again. Gabby slowly put her arms around Batgirl's waist so that her hands linked on her mentor's stomach and she tried not to over think it. The two were suddenly off, headed back towards Wayne Manor.

Across the street, she watched as two of the three women left on the motorbike, one of them being the one she had fought. the feral woman seemed to watch them go until they were both out of sight and hearing range before she looked around and jumped almost two stories up on top of the street lamp and then to the fire escape. From there, the woman jumped twice more before she was on the roof of that building. She then looked down, and the figure was almost certain that the feral woman could see her, but she was gone suddenly. The figure turned and left her hiding spot and walked down the empty street, turning a corner and spotting immediately the dark car running idly in front of her. She went around to the passenger seat when she saw that there was no one but the driver inside, and opened the door. "Shit, you scared me with that mask o' yers, Kid."

"Don't call me Kid," came the automatic reply.

"Alright. No harm done. The others already made it back," the driver said. She nodded. She could care less about 'the others'. With that, there was silence in the car. The driver didn't ask her anything about her or her life, and she liked it like that. So many times, the goon of the week would try and talk to her, simply because she was related to the boss, but she didn't like any of them enough to cough up any information. The car moved for ten minutes, and as soon as the car stopped and the figure got out, she could hear the faint screams from Arkham Asylum. She closed her eyes and tried not to think of the time three years ago, and she took in a deep breath as she wished once again that they could just move away from this house. The figure heard the door open.

"That took longer than I like, puddin'. You had me worried." said a petite woman with blonde pixie-ish hair and slightly vacant green eyes. The figure stared for a second at the woman, but she took a few steps towards her with the pouch she'd taken off of the girl she had fought.

"I'm sorry I worried you, but the timeline of your plan was a little off. It worked, though."

"Did you get it?"

"We got it."

"Oh good!" the woman said. "Tell me all about it while I heat you up some left overs." As the woman stretched out her hand, she placed it around the figure's shoulder. The figure took off the mask and black wig, revealing white-blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Sounds good, Aunt Harleen," Dinah said with a small smile as she made her way inside.


	11. Chapter 11

As History Repeats

Chapter 11

Dinah flopped onto her bed. She hadn't bothered to shower yet. She was too tired; both her mind and her stomach were full now and she just wanted to go to sleep and forget everything. She couldn't, though. As her head hit the pillow, she saw the blonde figure she fought that night, the one she later found out to be the girl she was slowly becoming friends with, Gabby Andrews. The girl she had been dreaming about for years. Dinah was glad that the only image she really got was of Gabby in the body suit, adjusting it and then putting the mask on. She wasn't sure she wanted to know the hows and why's of how Gabby had gotten there. Dinah saw how the girl was towards her when they met in the lunchroom that day. Dinah could tell that Gabby knew something about her, and may have even been able to guess that she was a metahuman right then and there. Why then hadn't she said anything about it? It could have been for the same reason that Dinah hadn't told Aunt Harleen about the fight. Well, she might have if she wasn't so distracted by her knew pretty toy. Dinah knew a little bit about what it did, and she wanted it to work, but not if it took her guardian's attention like that.

Dinah sighed. She wondered again why Gabby was out there. It was apperent that she didn't have any powers, so why risk herself? It could have just been that the feral woman and Batgirl were too busy and she was the only one left, but that was a big risk to take for the computer components. Really, how does someone like Gabby who seemed so nice, so normal, turn out to be one of _them_?

Dinah snorted. "How does someone like me end up right here, thinking about... her in this manner?" she asked herself.

The truth was, Dinah hadn't always been this way. Right now, she was evil, a freak. Or at least, that was what Gabby's do gooder friends thought of the likes of her. Once upon a time, Dinah was normal. She had a normal home and she did things that normal little girls did. That changed when she was about 7, when her home suddenly became engulfed in fire and in the next minute she was alone in a corner, everything charred to hell except for her and anyhing that happened to be in the three foot bubble she had somehow created. Dinah saw her mother there on the floor near the door, trying to get to her, but she couldn't...

Dinah bared her teeth angrily and shook her head away from the image of black flesh and its smell. She instead turned her body, hoping a new position would bring her thoughts to somewhere a little more pleasent, but it didn't work.

From there, Dinah's mind skipped ahead a little, and she was glad for it. She didn't want to remember the many foster homes she had been to, the times she was taken to a therapist for supposed Post Traumatic Stress Syndrom everytime she had strange dreams after that. Every night she saw mini-movies in her head, things she instinctively knew at 8 and 9 years of age were going to happen. She saw a car wreck after school in the 4th grade, but she couldn't stop it because no one would listen. People didn't know what to do with a special case like Dinah, and they shipped her everywhere, landing her with a nice enough couple, The Redmonds. They were very straight laced and God fearing people. The punishment then for seeing what she saw was to be locked in the closet until she convinced them (and hell she was able to convince herself a time or two) that what she saw wasn't real. It didn't take her two long to keep her mouth shut and just smile when Mrs. Redmond asked if she had slepted okay.

But that didn't stop what came next. When Dinah was 11, she began to see into someone's mind when she touched them. She tried everything, wearing gloves, staying away from people as much as she possibly could, but still she always found herself bumping into people. She tried to keep this from the Redmonds as she'd skip away from Mrs. Redmond when she tried to hug or kiss her goodnight, or from Mr. Redmond when he'd try to high five her. They thought it was another 'thing' with foster kids that she needed counceling for, so away she went again to a therapist. Mrs. Deacon was very nice, or at least Dinah thought she was. She said she wouldn't tell. She swore...

Less than a week after that, Dinah was sent away to Opal's Psychiatric Facility For Children, where she was numbed by drugs. Which was probably just as well that she was in a haze most of that time, since everyone else around her were screaming, scratching and biting. The one time she could remember being lucid was about two months in. One of the biggest screamers, Evan came up to her and pet her on the head before going back to hollaring. Apperantly, this wasn't a new thing, as he'd been doing it everyday without Dinah really there to know it. The next time he pet her hair, Dinah took his hand, and he froze. So did she, as she was suddenly in a completely chaotic type of place where the only thing not moving was Evan himself, who stood there calm and watching her. He knew she wasn't supposed to be there, and truthfully, she had never been in anyone's head for that long. When she asked him why he screamed so much, he said that it was because since his father died, no one listened to him. He said that since his mother married someone else, he hasn't seen anything of his father's anywhere, and he wants them back.

When Dinah left Evan's mind and had let go of his hand, he was silent for a moment, looked to Dinah before he began to scream again, petting her head before he left again. In some ways, Dinah still wondered if she could have done something to help Evan. She figured that now he was a teenager, his 'ticks' would have gotten worse or, hopefully, he would have gotten the help he had needed and left that god aweful place. Dinah hadn't quite been that lucky. Not long after properly meeting Evan, Dinah had another one of her dreams. They always came and went, of course, but she had never seen anything this bad. This dream was different from anything she could ever remember having. At first she thought it was a residual thing from being in Evan's mind, but she had that instinctual feeling that it was going to happen. All she could see were people running around and screaming various things that didn't make sense to Dinah, and all Dinah could feel was fear, as well as a few other emotions. She didn't know what it meant, but it woke her up. What she saw upon waking were beds shifted everywhere and a light blue charge along her own bed. Things were being flown around and a couple of the nurses were trying to get close to her.

She didn't know what she was doing, but she knew she was doing it, as it looked a lot like that first time, in her house... She had blacked out that time, but now she could see everything. She saw how much she scared the nurses and the other children. She did everything to try and calm down, to show she wasn't dangerous, but as soon as the blue orb went away and everything dropped to the ground, Dinah had been taken in for observation, and then isolated. She knew the truth, though. She knew she scared people and that the doctors didn't know what to do with her, just like the foster care system didn't know.

Dinah was transfered to a psychiatric ward that dealt more with adults than children, but they claimed to the Redmonds and the doctors there that they knew how to treat Dinah's 'condition'. With a lot of paperwork from the foster system and The Redmonds, Arkham Asylum had taken over all of Dinah's parental rights as she was shipped off to a place she had never been before called New Gotham. Alone in a glass surrounding, Dinah had never felt more alone. She remembered how much she cried and begged to be let out, but it seemed no one listened. The only upside to this was that she didn't have any dreams and that she hadn't been medicated as heavily, except for a sedative when she was due to see a doctor.

Dinah thought she would rot in her glass cell. She saw hardly anyone, and she knew that if she were really crazy it would have been because of that place. A month went by, and something happened that she had learned not to expect: She got a visitor. Dinah watched the woman carefully as she came in, and the woman did the same. Then, suddenly, she set her jacket down on the floor in front of her, sat down, beckoned for Dinah to join her, and the two of them began to talk. There was nothing of importance in their chats. They were mostly about animals, until this woman, introduced to her as Dr. Quinnzell, began to speak of creatures that were real, like unicorns and pegusus'. It was then she brought the conversation around to why Dinah was there in New Gotham. She began to tell her what was happening to her, and that she wasn't crazy or sick. Dinah had always felt that she was both. When she told her that she was a metahuman and what she could do to start controling the things she could do, Dinah felt she understood. All too soon, Dr. Quinzell stood up. Dinah stood as well and asked her if she would ever come back. "We'll see how my schedual plays out, puddin'," was all she'd said before she left.

Dinah was never happier when she came back, when she kept coming back week after week. Dinah knew she was a therapist, but she was unlike any she had ever met, and Dinah looked forward to the visits, practicing what Dr. Harleen told her during the time the blonde woman wasn't there. Over time, her dreams weren't scary anymore. She began to dream of a normal kind of life, one where she walked down the halls of a high school with another blonde girl, ones where she hung out at McDonald's with her and discussed deep issues together. This gave Dinah hope that she would be able to leave that place, that she wouldn't be locked away forever and she'd get better thanks to Dr. Quinzell. It did take time, but almost a year later, Dr. Quinzell had managed to prove that Dinah was safe enough to be let out of the glass encasement and into a bedroom with a boy named Gibson Khafka, who was closest to her age. He was a little odd, but harmless, as he was burdened with the power to see, hear, smell, taste and touch more powerfully than anything Dinah had heard of, and he remembered all of it, including, according to him, the womb. Dinah and Gibson became good friends and better roommates. He was really good about waking her up if it looked as if she was going to have another nightmare, and she did the best she could to not... well, smell.

When Dinah was 13, she was deemed at full health, but having nowhere to go, she lived at Arkham for a while until Dr. Quinzell surprised her with the knowledge that she was going to apply for guardianship. After many long months, Dinah went home with the one person who seemed to keep her sane in Arkham, other than the images of the girl. She did feel bad for not being able to stay with Gibson, but Dr. Harleen had said she could visit him whenever she wanted to, and at first she did, until he too was released. One thing that Dinah hadn't expected was the fact that Dr. Harleen (Aunt Harleen as she later called her) lived only blocks away from Arkham Asylum, and there were times where she could hear a scream that would make Dinah's insides go cold.

Dinah had a lot to catch up on, since she had spent almost three years locked away, and for over a year all 'round, Dinah had tutors to help her catch up. But Dinah's dreams were still there, and she knew she was supposed to go to New Gotham High, as that was where the girl would be. She knew she had to find a way to talk to her and even thank her for all of the things she didn't know she had done for Dinah while she was locked away. And that was when she had asked Aunt Harleen to be let into high school. Since she was handling her touch telepathy well according to Aunt Harleen, she was allowed to start the new year as a sophmore.

At this, Dinah sat up and looked around her room. She heard a small sound from far away and hoped it was a dog and not another Arkham scream. She covered her ears anyway. She took in a deep breath as she thought about Gabby and what this made them. Were they still friends, or were they enemies now? As far as Dinah was concerned, Gabby didn't know who Dinah really was at night, and she didn't know that Dinah knew about her. Maybe Dinah and Gabby could continue to be friends. After all, this won't be forever, Dinah knew. She had a task to do, and when the task was done, she would be too. If by then Gabby hasn't figured her out, Dinah could go on being around her without knowing, and maybe Dinah could forget any of this ever happened. Dinah snorted again and shifted onto her stomach as her head faced the wall again. "I don't know what I'm gonna do about you, Gabby," she whispered into the dark.


	12. Chapter 12

As History Repeats

*Not the best of chapters, but I wanted to get it done and posted before anything else went wrong.*

Chapter 12

"Gabby, you can let go now. I've stopped," Barbara informed her, and yet the blonde's fingers seemed frozen, locked in place in a way that would preserve her life.

"THAT was 'going slow'?" Gabby gasped out as she allowed herself to practically fall off of the bike. She would have landed in a heap, but Barbara had her by the waist as was helping her walk inside Wayne Manor through the Batcave's entrance door.

"Well, I went slow for me. I forget sometimes that I am used to it, and others-"

"Like living," Gabby cut in. Batgirl let out a laugh, which was cut off as soon as the door above them opened and the two masked woman saw Alfred there. He held the door open, and upon closer inspection, Gabby could see that he was holding a first aid kit and a hand-made icepack. Together, Batgirl and Gabby made it to one of couches in the living room, Barbara on the couch itself while Gabby was happy to practically fall to the floor and lean back against her mentor, her legs still not quite solid after their little ride. She took the mask off carefully and as she felt it scrape against the lip, she winced, then put the ice there, even though she knew her arm probably needed it more.

"Alfred, I'll need a comb please," Barbara said softly, and Gabby thought it was an odd request, but when, five minutes later, she felt the comb going through her hair to extract the glass, she was grateful that Barbara had thought of that. The two of them were quiet while both of them worked on getting Gabby back to working order. After running through her hair with the comb, Gabby could feel its frizziness and she'd have to work on it in the morning. Barbara then told Gabby to get onto the couch with her, and Gabby obeyed. Next came the check on her arm, wrapping another icepack to it with an ACE bandage. Gabby felt almost human as the ice did its work and Barbara continued to run the comb through her hair. When the redhead was done, Gabby turned to look at Alfred, who hel something in his hands, as well as the set of keys she had seen him with right before she was sent out as a Bat character to get the components.

"I regret that you got hurt, Miss Gabby. I was sure that she wouldn't be there, but perhaps she was trained a little better than I had assumed, and it had resulted in your injury. I..." Alfred stopped for a second before he spoke again, this time more to Barbara than to the teen. "I suppose you wish to know what it was that Gabby had been sent to retrieve."

"That'd be nice, yes," Barbara said tartly. Gabby nodded, her eyes a little more sympathetic. Or painfilled, she couldn't tell at the moment.

The butler entered the room a little more before he stood before the two caped figures. "About fifteen years ago, before Master Bruce adopted Master Dick and joined with you, Miss Barbara, he had run into many metahumans. At that time, people didn't really know the term metahuman-"

"People don't know the term now," Barbara interrupted, and the butler nodded in agreement.

"There was no way of knowing what to call those like the Joker or Catwoman. He just knew that he needed to protect himself if he were to continue to fight crime in the city. He joined with several strong influences in science and technology in the city and together they worked on what was simply 'The Metahuman Project'. They worked for a couple of years, but many of the prototypes were possibly harmful to metahumans. Master Bruce wanted only to paralyze them temerarily or to find a way to leave him invulnerable to another metahuman's powers, but he didn't want to permently damage another, no matter what their crime. "

"What did the prototypes do? Or what were they s'posed ta do?" Gabby asked.

"We worked on one in particular, but had to start over several times due to them doing something else metahuman related. Each time it did different things, paralyze the metahuman powers, paralyze the effect of the metahuman's powers on another, take or delete the power complete from the metahuman body... in theory, at least. They seemed perfectly acceptable-in theory- but Bruce was afraid to test them should something go wrong, so he locked them away in various Wayne Enterpises building around what was then Gotham City. Seven years ago, after the earthquake, I moved them, should someone happen upion the debres and find them. I had forgotten about them since then."

Gabby shook her head at that part. "SOMEONE had to have been there all that time, Alfred. It was took clean in there, I remember that much. There was no dust, no spiders- nothin'."

"Though a valid argument, Gabby," Barbara cut in, looking at the butler susptiously, "what matters is the fact that someone out there knows about the components and now has one of them. Which one was Gabby sent after, and why was it so life altering that she had to get it right away?"

"The component I sent Gabby to retrieve was meant to sever the metahuman power from the body via a machine that was created by a Dr. Harold Fairgreen Jr., however the one time it had been tested without authorization, it had killed the metahuman. The machine was taken apart, but those components were kept for a later date."

"For when technology caught up with the idea," Barbara said.

"Er- yes. It is also the most dangberous of them all. It is the only one we know for sure that kills. The others weren't tested, and it should stay that way in my opinion." Alfred handed Barbara what was in his hands, more computer parts that the redhead examined. Gabby watched the redhead.

"Alfred?"

"This was the component left here at the Manor, the one that showed the most promise. Master Bruce remembered its placement when a metahuman had broken into the Manor and used it. It seemed to work, but only as a one time use. No matter then; it had saved his life, but I am wondering..."

"If you would let Barbara play with it to see if her mad skills could get it working more than just one time?" Gabby asked.

"Precisely."

"I don't know..." Barbara said. She looked to Gabby. "Who would know about that machine?"

"That doctor guy, obviously, if he's still around," Gabby said.

"I am not sure if he is."

"Then that will be my first task-"

"Whoa, Turbo, your first task is to get yourself looking like you didn't just get into a fight so I can take you home and I don't get murdered by your mother. Then you're staying home the next three days AT LEAST so you can heal, got it? MY first task will be to get the rest of the conponents from wherever Alfred hid them, see what I can do with this doohickey, and keep an eye out for... I don't know. Something."

"Maybe you can recruit the Huntress. She seemed happy to help, and her mother was-is?-a theif-"

"No Huntress," Barbara said firmly, cutting off the teen's words. Gabby fell silent, and Alfred said something about putting keys away and preparing something or other. Gabby couldn't tell if it was moe bandages for her or something tasty to eat. The two crimefighters didn't say anything for a long time. Barbara's eyes met Gabby's inquisitive ones, and said with a scoff, "I got jealous, what do you want me to say?"

"You got... jealous?" Gabby asked slowly. Barbara shook her head.

"I forgot that you weren't Oracle. You didn't hear."

"What did she do that got you jealous?"

"Does it matter? The fact is, she shouldn't have the power to make me feel this way... but she does." Barbara said the last part softly, and Gabby had to guess what she'd said. Gabby frowned in thought.

"Why not?"

"What?"

"Why shouldn't she make you feel all the good tingles? Someone's got to, and you deserve happiness. Why not with someone like her? It would be continuing the legacy of Batman, and I know how much you're all for that," Gabby teased, but Barbara's look to her was hard.

"That's another thing. Her mother is my nemisis."

"But she isn't, is she?"

"Who are you, Oracle or Matchmaker?"

"Right now? Your friend," Gabby replied.

"Nice one," Barbara said as she looked down at the component in her hand.

"Well..." Gabby said, "no one deserves happiness in this city more than you do, and- as your phrase of the night seems to be- the rest doesn't matter."

"I can't- I can't..."

Gabby was worried for her mentor. She had watched her scale buildings, fight bad guys, practically fly on the Batbike, but she had never seen Barbara scared like this before. She didn't know what to say, so she said nothing. It was just as well, as her lip started to throb from the talking. Barbara used a rubber band to tie Gabby's hair back, and the teen switched the ice from her mouth to her shoulder. She still had no clue what she was going to tell her other. She had to hope that now that her mother worked various afternoons and nights at the hospital, she could sneak into her window before her mother got home.

"Come on, I'll take you home," Barbara said suddenly after a long moment of silence, seeing that Gabby was starting to look sleepy.

"I'd rather take my chances with the subway," Gabby responded immediately.

Barbara chuckled. "I'll have Alfred take you in the car, then."

"Deal. Good luck getting the other components. Keep me posted on how it all goes."

"You know I will."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Gabby woke up feeling a little stiff in her arm and sore in her back, but her lip seemed to go down some. It stung from where the cut was, but it wasn't as swollen as before. As she got out of bed and went to the bathroom - careful not to make noise and wake her mother, Gabby looked in the mirror and winced. Her eye was going to give her away, and she knew that make up won't help. Gabby rarely wore makeup as it was, but this time...

Gabby began to freak out a little in her mind as she prepared herself for school that morning. After applying consealer to her eye, she was glad to see that it didn't look as bad as it had before, but there was still some redness and puffiness there, and she knew she would get questions. She sighed and left the house. She squinted in the white, surprised that there was a thin layer of snow on the ground. So scared of running into her mother, she hadn't noticed. Gabby had to go back into her room for a thicker coat. Gabby was glad that there was only a couple more days until the winter break, and she didn't have to juggle school work and the night life for a while. She frowned sourly, thinking back on the 'task' Barbara had given her the night before as she walked along the sidewalk to get to her bus stop. She didn't want to sit back and rest, dammit. She was invested in this as it was. She got hurt for the cause, lied to her mother, and now she had to sit it out? She didn't find it fair. Gabby knew she was being a little childish about it, but she sacrificed a lot for what she did, and she wanted it to be worth it.

The teen watched her breath as it made fog in front of her as she walked the block it took to get to her bus stop. She saw a couple of other regulars, noticing that one boy she had in her art class the year before wasn't there that day. She figured he sat it out because of the snow. Hell, she would have as well, but she didn't want to risk running into her mother. She couldn't even remember if she saw her mother's car in the driveway. As Gabby hopped from one foot to the other, she couldn't help but to think about Dinah- and not only because she wanted to ride in a smooth car instead of a jostling loud box on wheels. Still, seeing the snow everywhere and wondering if more was to come later in the day, Gabby hoped that her new friend would drive safely. She wondered how Dinah's night had been. Of course, it couldn't have been nearly as exciting as her had been, but she hoped that she did something other than homework. This made Gabby stop. She hadn't done any of her homework. She winced, this time not from pain, and she let out a sigh. She knew there was no way she could get any of it done on the bus. She might have time to half-ass a worksheet in homeroom, but she still had a self evaluation paper that she hadn't finished. Luckily for the blonde, she didn't have anything else before the break, but she needed all of the help she can get when her grades were barely above average before she became Oracle part time.

When the bus came, she found her usual seat near the middle, and stared out of the window the best she could as she started her music player. She let her mind go back to the night before, which wasn't hard to do, since each time the bus stopped, started, had people boarding, or went over a bump, she felt the affects of an average person getting into a fight with a metahuman. Gabby realized that she was lucky the figure hadn't killed her. If Gabby remembered right, it seemed as if the figure hadn't wanted to even hurt her, just get her out of the way. If Gabby had just allowed for her to go with the components, Gabby wouldn't have been hurt like she was then. Gabby had a mission, though, one she almost completed. Gabby didn't even know what the figure could have done with the component in her possession unless she knew that doctor guy or if she had his research. It was very possible that the doctor was still around, and if he was selling his soul to the highest bidder or even having his life threatened for a duplicate of that machine, then Gabby suspected things were worse off than she had imagined them to be the night before.

Gabby let out a sigh of relief when the bus finally came to a complete stop outside of New Gotham High School. The bus seemed to sputter one last time before the driver killed the engine, and then Gabby waited to file out of the beast, her feet careful on the steps on her way down. As soon as she got to the sidewalk and out of the way to the few still trying to get off of the bus, Gabby heard her name. Upon first hearing it, she wondered if it was her new friend possibly waiting for her, but the voice was too low, too male for it to be Dinah. Gabby looked around until her eyes fell upon Mr. Brixton, who waved his small folder at her. Gabby took a couple of steps his way, a look of guilt on her face.

"Hey Gabby," the councelor said, mist coming from his nose as the two of them stopped right at the bottom of the small set of stairs leading inside. Gabby smiled politely as she turned to look at him. "I'm glad I caught up with you," Mr. Brixton said as Gabby turned to continue into the building, the broad man in tow. "With the snow and everything, I wasn't sure if you'd be able to make our appointment." Gabby made a face, and Mr. Brixton laughed. "You forgot, didn't you?"

"Sorry," Gabby offered with a small shrug.

"Don't worry, I almost forgot, too on my way in," the councelor admitted, "but I have the brochures to a few colleges I think you might do well in. They're on my desk if you wanna come in for a quick chat. Do you have the time?" Mr Brixton watched the girl as she seemed to find a reason not to, but Gabby eventually nodded. "Good."

Mr. Brixton lead the way then, even though both were aware of the direction they were now headed. Students waved or said hello to the councelor, and they all got a greeting back with their names attatched to them, which always amazed Gabby. People she always saw around the school - and even had classes with - she didn't have a clue as to who they were, and Mr. Brixton, a man who had only been apart of their school since the beginning of the year, seemed to know them all. Gabby follwed the man as they took a left into the main office, where people were lined up to get some sort of buisness taken care of. Some of the other staff looked at Gabby and seemed concerned, while others continued to greet the councelor, knowing that he would get things sorted out.

Once the door to Mr. Brixton's office closed behind them, Gabby looked around, having never been there before. There wasn't a whole lot, not nearly as much as the offices of the principal and the vice principal, signs that they had served New Gotham High forever, and would continue to serve New Gotham High forever more. There was a picture on his desk next to his computer, one of two young men. One, Gabby recognized, and the other was familiar to him. Gabby guessed his brother, but before she could think or say much else, Mr. Brixton spoke up, his voice much deeper, much more serious than the lighthearted tones of the hallway chatter.

Gabby saw that the look on his face changed slightly, from stern to concerned, and Gabby knew she wasn't going to like what was going to happen next. "Gabby, please sit down," he said. Gabby slowly but surely did as she was told, sitting in the seat opposite Mr. Brixton's. She gritted her teeth and tried not to make any sound as she felt pain in her arm from this movement. Still, when she looked up at the councelor, she saw that he'd seen it. "What's going on, Gabby?" he asked, almost as if he couldn't figure out a better way to start the conversation. "Is there something that I should know about?"

Gabby tried to keep her body relaxed in a way that said that nothing was wrong, but she was in pain now. "I don't know what you mean," Gabby responded, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"I admit to being new here, and I admit to not really knowing my way around here as well as I should," Mr. Brixton said, which surprised Gabby, seeing how well he got along with the other people in the school, "but I would like to think that I know my job, which is watching out for you kids." There was silence, so Mr. Brixton continued. "I was looking over your academic record and saw that your grades have been slipping from a 3.4 to a 2.9 grade point average since last spring. Seeing as it is still good enough grades to get into college, I am not... Well, not too worried, seeing as your grades have remained steady for now, but I am worried about you. Before Ms. Germaine retired, she had a conference with you. Do you remember that?"

Gabby did remember. Ms. Germaine knew her mother and had wanted to take it upon herself to watch out for Gabby since she had entered High School. Gabby liked the woman, she really did, but when she found out about her Lit teacher's true identity, it seemed Gabby couldn't get rid of her. "Yes, I remember," Gabby said softly.

"Her records say that you had tentative plans for college once, but since- well, since Spring, you have shown no interest in college at all. I don't want to think I have wasted my time looking up colleges for you, Gabby."

"What if you did? All I hear about is 'college this and college that'..." Gabby shrugged. "What if I only said I ever wanted to go so I can humor you?"

Mr. Brixton put his hand to his mouth as if to wipe away some invisible crubs from breakfast. "You see, that would make sense, yes. The lowered grades, fine. New school year, and all that, things get harder. However, that isn't the only thing that has me worried. You're a nice, likable girl. You could easily make friends, but you hang out with Bar- Ms. Gordon. I've checked, Gabby, you aren't in any of her classes. Ms. Germaine wrote you as distant and constantly distracted. You're in Gay Straight Alliance, yet you don't ever hang out with any of its members. I noticed you having lunch with Dinah Redmond, and though I was happy to see you've finally made a friend, I worry that she might not be-"

"What is this, Mr. Brixton? What are you trying to ask me?"

"Is there someone new in your life? Other than Dinah- as this has been going on for a while- Or someone in your mother's life perhaps?"

"I'm not being beaten, if that's what you're getting at," Gabby said coldly.

"Well, what else am I supposed to think when you've cut yourself off from everyone but Ms. Gordon, and then today come to school limping?"

"Can't you just trust that whatever is going on, Ms. Gordon can handle it? That I have placed my trust in her for a reason and we are working on it together?"

"Yes, I can see your point there, and I am glad that you can confide in someone. That is, if she does know the root of your changes in the last few months. I just..." Mr. Brixton cut off what he was saying and then tried again. "You're limping, and your eye. You were beaten or you were in a fight. Either way, its cause for some concern. You've got to understand that, don't you?"

Gabby felt for the guy. She liked him even more, but she had a secret to uphold, not just for herself but for Barbara, too. She knew she had to give something up, or like Ms. Germaine, Mr. Brixton wouldn't let up. "Okay... Promise not to tell my mother?"

"As long as you're not hurting yourself or someone else, I can make that promise."

"Good enough, I suppose, but... technically, I am hurting myself." Gabby winced when Mr. Brixton's posture changed, as if ready to say something or take immediate action. "No, that came out wrong. The thing is, I take karate classes in the evening. They are these sort of unofficial lessons taught by a friend I met last school year. I was walking down the street and this weird guy was harrassing me, and he helped me and said he'd teach me how to defend myself. Anyway, last night we got a little too into it with the sparring and I was too slow. He caught me in the eye, thinking I'd duck it. Normally I would have, but I was... distracted all night, and he got me pretty good." Gabby gave a small shrug.

Mr. Brixton nodded slightly as he took this story in, however, it was clear to Gabby that he didn't believe it, either. "And Ms. Gordon knows but your mother doesn't?"

"Yes. She too saw a wound in May, and like you was worried about it, so I told her everything. That time, I was working with another student of his who turned out to be batshit crazy and so he kicked him out- Long story. Anyway, yes, and I had to beg her for days not to tell my mother because if my mother ever found out that I was ever in danger and getting self defence classes because of it, she would pack us up and move us to the middle of nowhere Washington with my grandparents and I would never see anything familiar ever again." Gabby kept her eyes on Mr. Brixton, but she was getting fidgetty.

"You and I both know that you're lying, but if you are willing to make up such a lie then it is important to you to keep quiet about it. I have no choice but to trust that Ms. Gordon is helping you where I cannot. We'll keep this conversation between us, but if you come to school battered like this again," the councelor swept his arm towards Gabby as an example, "I'll have no choice but to make some phone calls."

"I understand. I should get going."

"Sure."

Gabby stood up quickly and walked towards Mr. Brixton who hadn't moved from the door. The man took a step to the right and leaned against the wall. He put a hand out to her shoulder before she could open the door and said, "My door is always open, and if you decide you want to go to college after all, you know where to find me."

"Thank you Mr. Brixton," Gabby said. She sighed a deep sigh as soon as she was back in the main hall, feeling eyes on her as she continued to limp towards Barbara's classroom and wishing her mentor was there. She took a quick look into the small window and breathed another sigh of relief as she opened it. She noticed Barbara tensing up just slightly as the door opened, but her muscles relaxed as soon as she saw that it was Gabby.

"If anyone asks," Gabby said as she hurried towards one of the front row desks and sank into it, "I take karate classes with some Mr. Miagi wannabe at night, which my mother doesn't know about because she'll take me away to some undisclosed location somewhere in Washington State. Oh, and I have a turtle named Shelly."

"Good morning," the redhead said, as if to test the waters with Gabby.

" 'Morning," Gabby got out as she leaned her head on her fist and studied Barbara. The teacher went to Gab by and knealed down to check over her face.

"Are you okay?"

Gabby nodded quickly, but her eyes seemed to tell a different story. "But enough about me."

"No no no, wait. What happened?" Barbara asked, standing again and leaning on her desk.

"I just had a run in with Mr. Brixton. I told him this story about almost getting mugged once but being saved from some guy who now teaches me karate and because I was distracted got a little beaten up in sparring with him. So yeah, that was why I was beaten last night, not because of my mother's boyfriend or my new girlfriend or whatever. When I see my mother next, she's going to freak out, and I know she won't believe the Karate Kid story. I don't know what I'm gonna tell her." Gabby brought a finger to her injured eye and groaned. "I have told more lies this week alone than I have in my entire life, even in the time I've met, you know, the real you." Gabby said. "It's going to snowball and bury me sooner rather than later."

"Other than that, are you okay?"

"You mean, physically? I'm dandy."

"Seriously?"

Gabby shrugged.

"I'll help you in any way I can," Barbara promised. "I'll get him off your back for a little while.

"Good, because he said he was going to," Gabby put fingers in the air to mimick quotations, " 'make some phone calls' if I come to school limping or bruised like this again."

At this, Barbara looked away, ashamed. "I could have taken that beating last night and bounced back from it quickly."

"I don't know, she had some wicked powers."

"I've been in explosions, knife fights- hell, gunfights. I know I could have been alright after that fight with her."

"Well..." Gabby shrugged, then winced. "Did you at least go and get those other doo-hickies Alfred was talking about?"

"Yeah, I got them, but it seemed rather anticlimactic after what you went through."

"Jealous?" Gabby asked somewhat playfully, even though her face seemed to beg Barbara to say no.

"No, but I rather it was me than you."

"Don't do this, okay? Don't blame yourself, or Alfred. It's happened, and now we just need to step back and make a plan to go get that other gadget before something disasterous happens when they figure out what to do with it."

"You're right. Speaking of figuring out gadgets..."

"Did you geek out last night?" Gabby asked with a smile.

"Just a little. I was able to fix the other one as well as tinker with it a little bit."

"Which one?"

"The one Alfred said Bruce used inside the manor."

"So, you think you got it to have multiple uses, then?"

"I don't know. I haven't tested it," Barbara said almost regretfully. "Its times like these that make me wish I knew where Bruce went."

"You miss him," Gabby said, more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah, as much as you'd miss me when I'm gone."

"Which is a lot," Gabby said without hesitation.

"Really?" Barbara asked, almost as if she hadn't expected Gabby's answer. The teen looked at her incredulously.

"How could you ask me that?" Gabby wondered. Barbara shrugged. "Wait, you're not planning on leaving me ever, are you?" There was a small whine in Gabby's tone that suggested she might cry.

"I don't actively plan on it, no," Barbara replied, "but you know this lifestyle. The possibility is definately there."

Gabby hung her head, and the tears that she fought for most of the morning since she'd left Mr. Brixton's office finally fell down her face. After the night before, she knew first hand that her mentor's words were true, but before then, she'd always pushed such thoughts away. Knowing that the figure could have killed her had she wanted to, or had Gabby not done some things differently made a chill go through her, one that had nothing to do with the snow outside. Finally Gabby looked up, a new determination in her eye. "It won't be because of me," she said, her tone firm, even as another tear ran down her cheek.

Barbara pushed herself from her desk and walked to Gabby again. She used her thumb to wipe the tear away. "I trust you, Gabby. I trust you with my life, otherwise I wouldn't have you there at the Delphi at night. You're my best friend. You're half my age, but... you are," Barbara admitted.

Gabby knew that their relationship was unique and even frowned upon if anyone knew just how much Gabby and Barbara hung out, but it was true. Gabby never would have said it out loud, but Barbara was her best friend, and to know that the redhead thought the same of her made feel much better about everything, even her injuries. Gabby nodded, hopefully telling the other woman that she felt the same way. One day she would get the courage to ask Barbara just why she chose Gabby's home that first time or if it was just convienience or fate, but not right then. The bell signalling a two minute warning would ring soon.

"Well uh..." Gabby said, clearing her throat and wiping her eyes. She slowly stood up and accepted Barbara's firm arm when it was offered to her, "as fun as this conversation has been..." Gabby let herself trail off with a small nervous laugh. Barbara nodded, and Gabby took a small step towards her mentor and then back again quickly. She wanted to hug Barbara, since it seemed that sort of moment, but because of where they were, she wasn't sure it was appropriate.

Barbara nodded as if to know Gabby's thoughts and to say she felt the same, just as Gabby had a moment before. Gabby waved with a small smile of her own, wiped her eyes again, and left Barbara's classroom. She saw Mr. Brixton on the steps across the hall from the door talking to another student, and she felt his eyes on her as she hurried down the hall with a grimace on her face as she tried not to limp on her way to her homeroom.


	14. Chapter 14

Gabby was paranoid. She tried to keep her head down and her gait strong, but she still worried that people were talking about her or wondering what had happened. There was the name 'Dinah' whispered about, and she wondered if people thought the other blonde and her had gotten into a fight. It was something that Gabby found laughable, considering they didn't know eachother well, and anyone who knew either of them (not a whole lot of the student population mind you) would know that they sat together at lunch. Hell, even Mr. Brixton knew that about them, and he was supposed to help over two thousand kids. Gabby wanted to see her new friend and tell her this, but she hadn't seen her around, not even in the halls like she used to before they had formally met. Gabby again hoped that she made it in today with the snow, but chances are, Dinah just skipped school. "Lucky," Gabby murmured as she sat down at 'their' table in the back that hadn't been snatched up. There was a lunch line headed out the door, and Gabby watched it move for a while, but when it shrunk so that the last person came about halfway across the room, she lost interest, having given up the hope that Dinah was there at school that day.

The teenager sighed sadly, wishing she could spend lunch with Barbara, but part of her was really afraid to talk to her after the seriousness of the night before. She wasn't sure if she could handle another really depressing conversation with her mentor. The thing she really wanted was for her body to stop aching. She longed for a hot bath and something for the pain. After lunch, Gabby had gotten her wish when her 4th period class was interrupted with Barbara poking into the classroom. "Sorry about this, but Gabby left this in my room, and I know she needs it." She held up a small bag that Gabby didn't recognize and she wondered what it was that her mentor had brought her.

"Very well. Gabby," Mr. Ford said almost sharply, irritated by the interruption. Gabby moved to get up, but Barbara went to Gabby's seat in the back. The teen noticed a look on her mentor's face that seemed to say to anyone who didn't know better that she was sorry for the interruption, but to Gabby it was a smirk that said they shared a secret, and that what she was giving her was something awesome. She took the bag from Barbara and nodded.

"Thank you Ms. Gordon," Gabby said, but she was speaking to a retreating back. The bag was small enough to be shoved into her coat pocket, which she did, and tried her best to stay focused on the rest of class. The curiousity made her itchy, and she wanted to know what Barbara had brought her. She could feel that there was a small packet of something, as well as a small lump that Gabby didn't know what it was. She knew that the packet was a Caprisun, but why she was getting juice was beyond Gabby. Finally, she was allowed a break when Mr. Ford let them out 5 minutes early, and she hurried to the girls' bathroom, were she opened the bag and saw a small white envelope made from a peice of paper and sure enough, a kiwi flavored Caprisun. When Gabby opened the envelope, there were two asprine, which Gabby took with the Caprisun, and saw the writing on it. Carefully, Gabby opened it to read what it said.

'Hot bath, asprin, rest. That is it for the next three days. I'll make it up to you, promise. -B'

Gabby smiled around the small yellow straw of the Caprisun. She loved kiwi, and if she were to be honest, she was surpised that Barbara knew these things about her. Then again, she was Oracle before Gabby ever was. She probably knew what she had for breakfast every morning since the second grade. The small packet was finished with as soon as the bell signalling the end of 4th period over, and she shucked her backpack back over her shoulder and went to class. She was happy when she felt the pain go away by the time 5th period was over.

Dinah didn't go to school that day. She was too scared to face Gabby. She didn't want to see the result of their fight the night before when both of them were cloaked in the night behind masks. Dinah was too chicken to see the damage she'd caused in the light of day. Luckily for her, there was snow outside when she woke up, so she could declair it a snow day for her, but sooner rather than later, she'd gotten bored, and she didn't want to stay in the house when people were still running around in the basement working on that thingamuhbob that was so damn important to her aunt. Well, it was important to her too, but even she decided to sleep after she'd gotten home, knowing that soon she would be better. Dinah didn't think her aunt ever left the basement, and she had taken the day off. She hadn't even noticed when Dinah didn't wake up on time for school, nor did she even come upstairs when Dinah had slammed a goon into a wall, causing a lot of racket. (Really it was his fault for even daring to stare at her the way he did, and he was a freak just like her, so he could take the hit she gave him which was lighter than the ones she'd dealt to Gabby the night before.) Dinah wasn't completely worried about all of that. After all, when Dinah gets online, she can be a bit oblivious to everything else around her. There was something else that bothered Dinah, though, something that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Dinah drove around New Gotham, using up most of her tank of gas as she drove to the mall in Bluhaven and then back down to New Gotham High School. Even doing something as radical as coloring her hair did nothing to help her mood. She was guilty, that was all there was to it. But how was she to know that it was Gabby behind the mask? She had, after all tried her best to just get in and get gone, but her opponent last night had been determined to keep her away from it. Had she known it was Gabby of all people, though, she wouldn't have been so rough with her. She would have just kept pushing her away until Dinah had the components or until Gabby had given up. Thinking back, Dinah wondered how it was that she hadn't realized it was her before hand. It wasn't as if Gabby had done much to hide her voice or even deepen it, like the feral character did. Dinah had done the research. It wasn't hard to figure out who she was knowing her powers and who owned them last. She knew who 'Huntress' really was, and that she worked in some dinky bar in the eastern district. Dinah knew that she wasn't really a threat unless she were to go up against Batgirl, as seen the night before. It was Batgirl that she was really not looking to fight against, Batgirl who she at first thought she'd run into at the credit union the night before. It appeared they had an alliance against her now, the second generation spawns of Batman and Catwoman. Who knew where Gabby fit into that...

Even so, Dinah wanted to see for herself that she hadn't hurt Gabby too badly. Gabby was the one person who ever treated her like she was human, like a true friend without even knowing her. It was Gabby's image that kept her sane within the walls lined with screaming metahumans and wannabe villians. They may be enemies now, but one day soon, they won't have to be, and she wanted that. She wanted a normal friendship with Gabby, and if she were honest with herself, Dinah wanted more than just a friendship with her. Dinah took in a deep breath from her seat in the New Gotham High School parking lot, and then she forced herself outside of it when she heard the bell signalling the end of class ring. She waited patiently next to the bus she had first seen Gabby in the day before, and wasn't disappointed when about three minutes later, Gabby walked out of the building. She was limping, even though Dinah could tell she was trying to hide it. And if the guidence councelor guy (she'd long forgotten his name) standing just outside watching her was anything, Dinah could see why Gabby was pretending to be alright. Dinah took a few steps closer to Gabby and stopped when she saw the other blonde's eye. It was covered up with fading makeup, but Dinah could still see what she had done with her own hand. She looked down at it in disgust, and then hurried to Gabby before she could make it to the bus.

Dinah was hesitant, but then she reached out and touched Gabby's arm, the one that wasn't rested against the blonde's stomach. The reaction she got wasn't expected, but she understood it. Gabby gasped, jerking her arm away from Dinah and spun, her body defencive and ready to fight with the one good arm. "Whoa, sorry," Dinah said, immediately letting go of the other blonde's arm. She felt ten times worse now, knowing that she was the one making Gabby so scared, so defencive.

"No, I'm sorry." Gabby said. She looked Dinah up and down, and for a fraction of a moment, the telekinetic thought she could see right through her and know who she had been the night before. "You got streaks in your hair. At least I know why I didn't see you at lunch today."

"Heh heh, yeah," Dinah said, nervously touching the dark blue strands that fell over her eyes. There were four other streaks that ran down her back and one that was tucked behind her left ear. She thought it was a good addition, and hoped that the next day she would be even more intimidating so people won't bother talking to her. The more intimidated they were, the further away they got in the hallways, which meant that she didn't have to worry about looking into someone else's mind without permission.

"Your mom gonna be pissed?" Gabby asked. "I know mine would be."

"You mean my aunt? Nah, I think she would find this an amusing 'expression of my unique independance and individuality', or something o like that. She's a shrink and uses words like that. Anyway, that's what she said last time I did this."

"The last time?"

"A few months ago in the summer. It was a bad dye job- turned my hair green for a while. I think she teared with joy when she saw it," Dinah said. She was babbling now, but she didn't want Gabby to notice how she was staring at the eye, and she didn't want to ask, but not asking would suggest something was up. "So uh..." Dinah pointed to her own eye. "What happened?"

"I had a bad karate practice last night. I was distracted and my sensai kicked my ass," Gabby told her. If Dinah hadn't already known the real story, she still wouldn't have bought this one, but she nodded.

"I didn't know you took karate classes."

"It isn't like we told eachother our life stories yet," Gabby said with a small shrug. there was a silence. "That sounded bitchy. I'm sorry, Im just-"

"Must be in pain," Dinah said. When Gabby nodded, she continued, "I wouldn't be so happy either. Come on, I'll drive you home and you can tell me about it... If you want."

"It was pretty humiliating to say the least, so I would rather wait and tell you when I am at a spot in my life where I can laugh about it."

"Let's just hope I'm friends with you then," Dinah said. When she realized what she'd implied, she fought off a blush and looked away. "Car's this way," she murmured. "Were you alone? At lunch?" Dinah asked as they reached the black car that she had driven Gabby home in the night before.

"Yeah, but its alright."

"Why don't you sit with the other members of Straight Gay Alliance?" Dinah asked as she unlocked her door and then pressed the button that unlocked all the doors in her car.

"As you said the other day, they've pretty much formed their group at the womb, and I just didn't feel like tryin' to figure out how to get into it. I go to meetings, sign the petitions, and help out with events, but..." Gabby trailed off. She wanted to say 'but we aren't friends'. Thinking that made her think about Barbara, and what she had said to her. She never really had anyone she could consider a best friend. Since knowing Barbara as Batgirl, and then becoming Oracle, they had a connection that was different from any other, and they were an interesting couple of besties.

"I hear that," Dinah said. Dinah then got into the car after watching Gabby. There was much she seemed to want to say, but Dinah knew why she didn't just say them. As she reached back for a coat she left in the car and bundled it up for the front seat, she thought to herself that the story of how Gabby came to be part of Batgirl's life must have been an interesting one, and she couldn't wait for the moment where they could talk about that sort of thing, where she could tell Gabby all about where she'd been. Maybe Gabby and her COULD one day look back on the night before and laugh about it, as well as this masqurade they are playing together at that very moment.

Gabby also got into the car after Dinah had put a coat in the front seat, rested against the back like a pillow. Gabby wasn't sure if Dinah just knew or only guessed that her back needed it. She sighed when she sat down and closed the door behind her. She wasn't sure what the pain medication was that Barbara had given her, but she was sure they weren't over the counter, becuase they were fast acting and she hadn't hurt for the rest of the day unless someone bumped into her like they had in the hallway just after school. The pain in her arm was subsiding, but she wasn't sure for how long.

There was a silence between the two blondes as Dinah made her way towards Gabby's house. There was no grand detour, and part of Gabby was saddened by that, as she wanted to spend more time with Dinah, but at the same time, the more she stayed off the roads, the safer she felt. She also had a feeling it was a good idea to stay home and rest, not just because of her injuries, but because of her mother's suspitions as of late. Even as Dinah got them to less than a mile from her home, Gabby didn't know what she was going to tell her mother. Seeing as she already told her the grand story about Dinah, she doubted that she could get away with using the karate classes tale with her. It was bad enough that Dinah didn't even look too convinced by it, which should have told Gabby to stop using it.

Dinah left Gabby to her thoughts, mostly because she was afraid of her own words somehow giving herself away. She wanted to badly to tell Gabby that it was her last night, her who had hurt the other girl and how sorry she was, but she couldn't. Not yet. Maybe when she was normal, but she wasn't sure she could handle losing her friendship so soon after gaining it, knowing who she really is and who she had been for her all of her teenaged life. Her heart thudded nervously in her chest at the thought, and decided to keep quiet. When she pulled onto Gabby's curb, she saw that another car's taillights were just going off, signalling that someone had just gotten home as well.

"No," Gabby groaned. She looked to Dinah almost helplessly and sighed. "I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you for the ride." Gabby then got out of the car, and Dinah watched as another blonde woman with straightened hair walked up to her. She could only be Gabby's mother. The two looked so much alike. The older woman didn't say anything to Gabby, and Dinah was surprised to see her walking up to the car and motioning for her to roll down the window. Dinah did so, mostly out of curiousity.

"Are you Gabby's new girlfriend Dinah?" Gabby's mother asked as Dinah turned down the radio.

"Uh-" Dinah said, bewildered. She hadn't expected that one. Behind the woman, Dinah saw Gabby wince. Knowing what her new friend's hobby really was, she could imagine the lies she had to tell for staying up and staying out so late at night, and since she didn't want her friend to be grounded for the rest of her life (and as a way to help make it up to the other girl for the injuries she caused to help ease her guilt), Dinah nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, I'm not... out, so it being said aloud like that surprised me," Dinah told the older woman.

"You're pretty." The woman looked back at Gabby. "She's very pretty!" She laughed when Gabby put her head in her palm, hiding her eyes and her emberessment.

Dinah smiled, amused. "Thank you."

"Gabby hasn't really told me much about you. I only knew she was dating anyone a couple of nights ago. Would you like to stay for dinner?"

At this, Gabby's head shot up in horror. Whatever she'd told her mother, Gabby was about to step deeper into the hole she'd created and if she didn't play her cards right, she would sink them further. "Er- I'll have to ask my aunt. She's..."

"Gabby warned me that she was strict, but seeing as she let you dye your hair like that, I have a feeling she's lightened up a little bit, right?"

"Well... yes, I suppose so." She looked to Gabby who looked as if she was a step away from waving about and mouthing 'no don't!'

"Come on inside. I just got home myself, and its only," Gabby's mother checked her watch, "3:45, so it won't be for at least another hour yet. That should give you enough time to call your aunt, get some homework done, you know?" Though it wasn't said, Dinah was sure Gabby's mother wanted to add 'you know, get your story straight, pun not intended'.

"Uh... Okay." Gabby seemed to go slightly pale, and Dinah tried her best to say with her face that she was sorry.

Dinah rolled the window back up and killed the engine. When she got out of the car, Gabby's mom was walking towards the house, but paused, looking at Gabby almost in horror. She hurried back to Gabby and took her face into her hand. She must not have really registered her daughter's face before, since she was more concerned with Dinah then.

"What happened?" the woman asked. Gabby backed away, and slowly took her arm off of her stomach as if to make sure her mother didn't notice that too.

"Its not what you think. My lip cracked and bled from the cold blisters," Gabby lied.

"And the eye?"

"Its no big deal, Mom. You know how clumbsy I am," Gabby said. "I fell."

"And hit your eye?"

"Yes."

Gabby's mother leaned in to her daughter, looking her in the eyes, a hard and dangerous look in her own. Then she murmured something that Dinah just barely caught. "You're lucky there's company. Very, very lucky."

Gabby swallowed nervously. Dinah felt bad for her. She walked a few steps towards them, and as if to show that they were just having a mother/daughter greeting, Gabby's mother kissed Gabby on the cheek. Dinah smiled at the woman when she looked her way, and the two teens followed after her inside. Gabby sighed. She knew she was caught, and she knew that her mother was going to tear Dinah apart. She also knew that she was never going to be ungrounded, and that Dinah will most likely never speak to her after this.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Gabby tilted her head towards the hallway, indicating that Dinah should follow her, which she did. The metahuman was quiet as she did so, taking in the baby pictures on the walls, just put up in recent months when Gabby had proven capable to walk through without knocking any of them down. Gabby, no longer in her mother's line of sight, let out a sigh of slight relief and opened her bedroom door. "I wasn't 'specting company. Sorry for the mess."

"Can't be as bad as my room," Dinah said with a small laugh.

"I wouldn't stake any money on that," Gabby warned. She took another step, leading them inside her bedroom, and Dinah took a look around. Gabby's room was much like any other teenaged girl's. There were posters of B*Witched and A*Teens and pretty much any other pop group with a star in their names, an unmade bed in the corner, a large bookshelf with anything from Harry Potter and Animorphs to Jane Austen and lesbian romances. Some were even books from Gabby's childhood that she didn't have the heart to donate. Dinah noticed as she looked around that it was pretty messy, but not in a way that made her own room sparkle. If she were to really compare, she wouldn't really have a winner.

"Not so bad. Worst of it seems on the desk, where as mine is the closet near my clothes hamper," Dinah said. She watched as Gabby moved clothes from her computer chair and motioned for Dinah to sit down. As she did so, Dinah looked around some more. She wasn't sure why, but she figured there would be some clues as to what she did at night there, but the only thing she could think of were the bat earrings she wore.

Gabby was silent for a moment, watching Dinah as she looked around her room and took in the new surrounding. Dinah wasn't sure what she had expected. It wasn't like the girl was dumb enough to leave her bat costume in her closet, where the door was open for her to see, or have a grid of New Gotham's crime scene open and ready for her to mess with at any moment. If Gabby was big in the vigialante game, most of what she did had to have been done with Batgirl, wherever the superhero hid out in the daytime. "Look, I am sorry," Gabby started out by saying, and this brought Dinah's mind back to the reason why she was there in her room.

"I'm not mad or anything, just so you know, but..."

"I know, and thanks for covering for me for this long. We can always say that your aunt called and needs you at home or something, and I can deal with my mother on my own."

"But then you would be caught in your own lie and grounded longer. I like you, Gabby. I would like to think that we could find ourselves hanging out before we end up graduating college because you were released from your sentence by then. So, you tell me what you told HER, I play along tonight, and once you're free again, you can pay for the newest Brangelina movie we'll go see together."

"Brangelina?" Gabby asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Or whatever," Dinah said with a shrug. She then made a face that told Gabby that she was waiting for the explaination.

"My mother saw that you had dropped me off. Having found out that I wasn't babysitting for this family across town anymore but was still out late, she figured you were the reason. She assumed you were my girlfriend, and when she asked about you, I said you were." Gabby looked away with a slight blush on her face.

"Well, tell me the story of how we met and all that," Dinah said, leaning further back into her chair. She listened closely as Gabby explained it to her.

Over an hour later, Gabby and Dinah sat with Gabby's mother at the table. The food had just been served, and Dinah waited until either Gabby or her mother took a bite. It was silent around the table, and admittedly, the most awkward moment of all three blondes' lives. "So, Gabby tells me that you were homeschooled for a while before going to the high school," Gabby's mother prompted, turning her head to Dinah.

Dinah nodded once and moved the macaroni on her plate before locking eyes quickly with the older woman and smiled. "Yes. My learning was... delayed," Dinah said, clearing her throat at the memories of Arkam. "Because of this, I was homeschooled year-round to try and catch up."

"What delayed you?" Gabby's mother asked before she took a bite of the chick she had just cut. Gabby looked to her mother with an opened mouth.

"Mom-" she protested, thinking the question was somewhat out of line, but Dinah patted her shoulder with the hand that had previously been in her lap. When she began to speak, the hand squeezed her shoulder slightly, but otherwise didn't move.

"Truthfully, I had behavioral problems- social anxiety for much of it- and had to stay at home." Dinah looked down, her hand leaning Gabby's shoulder, and Gabby's mother took this as a hint that she didn't want to speak any more on the subject. Gabby wanted to put a comforting hand on Dinah's shoulder instead of it being the other way around, but she didn't know what Dinah's boundaries were, especially since she had just talked about social anxiety. Her mother seemed to have the same thoughts, as she sat a little straighter and seemed to make her demeanor a little less threatening. Dinah looked up a gain, put some of her hair out of her eyes and said, "But- uh... I like high school. I mean, not the people, but the experience. Plus, I met Gabby, and that's good."

"Yeah," Gabby's mother said, smiling encouragingly at Dinah.

"So um..." Dinah turned to Gabby. There was a look on her face that seemed to ask something but was hesitant.

"What?" Gabby asked, curious. She didn't know what the other blonde wanted to know, but she knew that after all she was doing for her when they barely knew eachother, she was willing to answer pretty much anything Dinah wanted to know.

"Where's your dad?"

"He's been in Florida to care for my grandma. She's getting better lately, but still needs extra care."

"What's wrong with her?"

"She has some respritory problems," Gabby said. Dinah nodded again, and reached out for Gabby's hand, which had at first startled her.

"I'm sorry," Dinah said, squeezing her hand lightly, but keeping the contact. There was a silence and Gabby put her head down slightly at the strange feeling in her head. "Gabby?"

"I'm uh... a little dizzy..." Gabby said slowly.

"You did hit pretty hard when I- When you fell," Gabby said.

"When you what?" Gabby's mother said, catching the slip. Her eyes were hard as she stared at Dinah. She knew something was up, that both girls were lying about what happened. If she found out that she was hurting her daughter, Dinah was going to pay. She knew how things went. She knew that there was domestic violence in gay relationships just as much as in straight ones. She knew the signs as well, being a nurse.

"We were messing around. I had a snowball in my hand that I was going to throw at her, but she ran away. I tackled her, and she hit her head pretty hard. I've apologized a thousand times for it," Dinah answered. Gabby looked over at the girl and saw what could very well have been the truth. 'Damn, Dinah's good at lying,' Gabby thought. It was a little disconcerting to know this, but Gabby also knew what it must have been like for metahumans, and Gabby was still sure that her new friend was one. Still, Dinah looked really sincere for something she didn't do, so Gabby smiled back at her.

"Nine Hundrend and Ninety Three," Gabby said playfully. "I don't blame you, but you should join the footbal team. That was some tackle."

"I'm sorry sweetie," Dinah said softly, catching her eye again. The look that Dinah was giving her made Gabby blush. 'Maybe she should join Drama Club instead,' Gabby thought to herself.

"Don't be," Gabby said in return, slowly reaching for Dinah's hand. She stopped for a second, but Dinah met her hand halfway, interwining their fingers. Gabby had to fight herself to keep her from blushing harder. She put her other hand on her head, which was starting to feel a little bit fuzzy. "I think I should go rest, though." Gabby looked up at her mother. "I didn't want you to flip out on Dinah or anything," she explained to her, "which was why I shrugged it off. It was an accident."

"I wouldn't have 'flipped out'," Gabby's mother said through her teeth, knowing she probably would have, actually. Still, there was something missing. The snowball fight explained why Gabby was limping, why her daughter had the telling signs of a headache, but what she couldn't figure out was the eye. She was hit, there was no question about it, and though even she had to admit that Dinah didn't seem the type to hit Gabby like that, she couldn't be certain. There was something... dark about her that she just couldn't put her finger on, and she wasn't sure if she wanted her daughter to hang out with Dinah. Dinah had been nothing but respectful to her, and anyone knew that things weren't as they seemed, especially in such a place as New Gotham. Dinah could be a normal teenaged girl who probably liked Gabby in an intimate way, so she went along with the plan. Or she could have been a friend who didn't want Gabby to get in trouble for the things they did together. That was, if they were in it- whatever it was- together. There was also the possibility she was one of the rumors of New Gotham, one of the people who did the impossible, and used the gifts for bad. She wasn't sure, but she would keep her eye out. On both of them.

Gabby couldn't tell what her mother was thinking, or if her mother believed this whole stint. She was letting it go, which was surprising. Either that, or she was waiting for Dinah to leave.

"I-I should go. You'll be okay?" Dinah asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. Lemme walk you out," Gabby replied.

"You don't have-"

"Lemme walk you out," Gabby said again, standng up. This broke the linked fingers. Then Dinah was at her side, looking startled at the change of plans. She had tried her best to keep up with everything and to do what she could to keep Gabby from being grounded.

"It was nice to meet you," Dinah said, offering the oldest blonde the hand the hand that wasn't wrapped around Gabby's waist. Gabby's mother shook it.

"It was nice to meet you, too." The woman then stood up and went into the kitchen, while Dinah and Gabby made it outside to the black car they came in.

"I'm sorry. I feel... weird," Gabby murmured when Dinah let go of her.

"Your mom wants my hide," Dinah said.

"I don't think so-

"Oh I know so, and you're putting her through a lot of stress because she doesn't know why you're doing what your doing. Whatever it is you're doing. I think it is the not knowing that scares her more than whatever it is that you're actually doing. You know- all the 'what if's freaking her out."

"How do you know these things?" Gabby asked, looking at her new friend in slight awe at the insight.

"I had a mother once, too, you know." The answer was supposed to be playful, but Gabby saw the pain behind her new friend's eyes. "Just... be careful, okay?" Dinah said.

"What do you mean 'be careful'?" Gabby asked. "I'm fine!" The words Dinah said were slightly cryptic, but Gabby knew that there was something that Dinah knew that she wasn't saying. Then again, there was so much that Gabby wasn't saying- so much that she just couldn't say.

"You say, limping along the school like that," Dinah shot back.

"There is nothing-

"The not knowing sort of scares me too," Dinah admitted, even though she knew what was happening with Gabby at night. "I mean, you could be in a gang, or you could be working the streets or doing drugs or you could have some adreniline seeking hobby that none of us know about-"

"It's nothing like that," Gabby protested.

"OR you really could be taking karate classes with someone. Still, if no one knows where you are, and you suddenly go missing..." Dinah shook her head. "Shadows, remember?" she said.

"Yeah, I remember, but I am fine," Gabby said again. "I am protected."

"But for how long?" Dinah asked. There was a pause. "I'mma go." Dinah took steps closer to Gabby until their chests touched, and Gabby fought the urge to step back. She felt her breath come in slightly shallow pants before Dinah leaned forward and kissed her. It was little more than a peck at first before Dinah leaned in again. This time the kiss was deeper, and Gabby felt Dinah's tongue touch her bottom lip. Gabby allowed entrance, but other than the initial demand, Dinah's tongue did nothing more than flicker against the inside of Gabby's upper lip. Dinah then slowly backed out of the kiss. Gabby looked up towards her house to see that her mother was watching them. When she looked back, she saw that Dinah's eyes were still on her. Slowly, Dinah brought her hand to the side of Gabby's face, her thumb slightly touching the cheek that had been hit the night before. Gabby had almost forgotten all about it until then, but it didn't hurt when Dinah touched it. "It doesn't have to be a lie, you know," Dinah finally said softly, her blue eyes bouncing slightly to look at both of Gabby's.

"Wh-What?" Gabby said, coming out of her slight trance.

"Us being together," Dinah clarified, her eyes switching between Gabby's. "It doesn't have to be a lie." When Gabby floundered for something to say, to ask the questions she wanted to ask, Dinah shrugged and backed out of their embrace. The cold on her face after Dinah's hand as removed seemed to wake her up again, but by then, Dinah had reached the driver's side of her car and had the door open. "Just think about it," she said. She got in, and Gabby waved at her. Dinah waved back and was off. Gabby watched as Dinah made it to the end of the block and turned the corner before she went back inside.

Gabby watched her mother, preparing her body in case of- what? Fight or flight? Her mother said nothing as she continued to scrape food into containers and the garbage disposal. Finally Gabby said, "Mom?"

"What?" There was more silence. "So you get away with it. Whatever it is. I don't know what you're doing, and I can't ground you for something that I have no proof of. Should I just... be glad that you're okay, that you're not in a ditch somewhere? So far, I haven't gotten a call in the middle of the night for me to come and bail you out of jail, but is it only a matter of time? Huh?" Gabby's mother stared back at her, but Gabby didn't say a thing. "I thought at first that you were just missing your father. He's been gone since summer, and you were always closer to him, but I've realized that this was happening before that. You've been distant and secretive for longer than that, and I just- I don't know what to do, Gabrielle." She paused for a moment before she jerked her head in the direction of the hallway. "Go to your room. You need your rest."

"Okay," Gabby said. She wasn't going to argue. She had nothing she could say or do to make things better other than to tell her mother the truth. Even if her mother believed her, which Gabby highly doubted, she wasn't just keeping one secret. She was keeping Barbara's, Batman's Robin's- hell, even the sectret of Kitten Britches. She couldn't do that to them, no matter what, but it was killing her that this was driving a wedge between them. She didn't even want to know what it would be like once her father got home. Slowly but surely, Gabby took a hot shower and made it into bed. She lay awake, wondering what was happening with Barbara at that moment. She hoped that things were okay without her, but then she remembered that she had been doing fine all these years without her already. This thought depressed her some. The nightlife will go on without her, so why couldn't she just-

Because the what if's would drive her crazy, too. The thoughts that she couldn't help in some way when things got bad, or the thought that Barbara just might need her after all, if only in a small way would eat at her for the rest of her life, even after Barbara died. There was no getting out of this lifestyle once one was in it- on either side- and Gabby was definately in it. Part of her didn't want to tell her mother because that would be letting her into something so big, something she was apart of, something that made her different from other girls, something that made her feel special. Once the secret got out, it wouldn't be special anymore. She wouldn't be special anymore. Her mother wouldn't want her doing this, and she would move them to somewhere where Gabby was safe. She wouldn't be Oracle anymore. She would have to be away from the only best friend she had ever had, the only true friend that she was only just beginning to have.

The thoughts of Dinah brought her to the kiss and the words her new friend had said, just before she had departed for the evening. Gabby was surprised by the way Dinah had made her feel that night, from the looks that had been given by her to the way her touch made her head spin. She didn't even want to go into how the kiss gave her shivers or the fact that she wanted more. But being with Dinah was a big risk that she couldn't take. It was bad enough that Gabby had her secrets and Dinah was well aware of this fact. If her mother of all people knew something was up, then it wouln't be long before Dinah figured out just what that could be. Though Dinah was metahuman (Gabby was sure of it, though she didn't know what her power was yet) and she could possibly believe her faster than her mother ever would, she still couldn't expose the secret that wasn't hers to tell. The life that Batgirl lead was dangerous, and she couldn't allow for Dinah to get caught up in that, not when Gabby could tell that she already had a tough life at only sixteen.

Gabby had just gingerly turned onto her other side when the door to her room opened slightly. "I didn't think you'd still be awake," her mother said softly.

"I am," Gabby said in a tone that matched her mother's.

"Does Dinah know why she lied for you?" The question caught Gabby by surprise, and she was glad that the lights were off in her room, the only light being from the hallway.

"No."

"So she doesn't know what you're hiding," her mother said in a statement, not a question.

"No," Gabby said again.

"Will she be the first to know?"

"No."

"Will you ever... Will you ever tell me?" her mother asked. The way her voice went so quiet, Gabby could tell she was trying to be strong about this, to be the good mother. Gabby remained silent, and her mother's head went down in what Gabby thought was shame. She heard a slight sniff, and then the door to her bedroom closed.

"Oh shit," Gabby murmured before she closed her eyes to try to get some sleep. She wasn't sure how well that would go.


	16. Chapter 16

Gabby woke up feeling again sore and stiff, only, some of it seemed to have lessened this time around. Her arm and shoulder screamed in pain from a night spent laying on them, but after a few moments the throbbing subsided when the pins and needles tingling went away. Her head felt a lot better, though, so Gabby felt that she had to take her victories as they came. She stretched slowly, allowing her stiff muscles to relax a little bit, and over all, she felt a lot better. Her lips still had a small pulsing sensation to them as thoughts of Dinah's kiss from the night before came to her once more, and Gabby tried hard to fight off her blush.

'Us being together,' Dinah had said, 'It doesn't have to be a lie.' These words and her fears came back to her as she made her bed looked out for her mom and had taken a shower. She made sure her her shower was extra hot. Though it seemed to scorch her skin, her aching limbs were grateful for it. Getting out of the shower, she noticed how much easier she seemed to move about and she was glad. After going through the rest of her morning routine, she walked into the kitchen, where she was surprised to see her mother at the stove cooking scrambled eggs. When she saw her, Gabby's mother motioned with her spatula for the teen to sit down at the table, and then went back to the stove. Gabby did as she was silently told. A moment later, a plate with the eggs, as well as two slices of toast were placed in front of her. Gabby was hesitant, but she picked up her fork and took a bite, while a glass of milk was set next to her plate.

"Thank you," Gabby murmured. She didn't have the heart or courage to tell her mother that she didn't drink milk in the mornings and hadn't since she was in elementary school. Since her mother had remained silent in all this time, she knew that it was wise for her to do so as well.

More silence continued while Gabby ate and took the smallest of sips from her glass of milk while her mother put the breakfast food away until her mother said, "I'm taking you intro school today."

"But the bus-"

The skillet used to cook the eggs was tossed into the sink, its clatter making Gabby flinch. "I don't know what it is you're doing Gabby. I don't know where you go, or what it is that you're getting into now that you don't babysit the Morgan's. And now for some reason you don't trust me and have given me no reason to trust you so… I'm going to watch you every chance I get, and since I can't do this in the evening, the mornings are going to have to be it, understand?" Gabby swallowed, but she nodded to this. "So finish your breakfast, get your things, and meet me out at the car in twenty minutes." With this, her mother turned and walked down the hallway to her room, the door closing roughly behind her. Gabby was still for a moment before she picked up her plate and glass, dumped everything in the garbage disposal and went to her own room to collect her things.

Gabby almost hated Barbara and Batman and all of the reasons for them being who they are. She knew it wasn't their fault entirely. She chose to help. She chose to become Oracle, and she loved that she was. Still, couldn't there be like a small group of people of who she could tell? It would only be her parents, and, if things got serious, Dinah since she was a metahuman and would understand. Still, Gabby knew she couldn't do this. She couldn't do this, but she couldn't keep on the way she was. Barbara had said she would help her fend off Mr. Brixton, but what about her parents? What about Dinah? What about other people who whisper and wonder about her?

After Gabby got her things, she placed them on the table long enough to wash the dishes in the sink. Then she went to the car and waited, even though it was freezing outside. She just couldn't' handle the tension in the house. As she leaned against the car, she saw the boy from her art class the year before. They shared a quick nod as he walked by, and then she watched him until he was out of sight. Her mother joined her seven minutes later (not that Gabby was counting or anything), and again it was silent work as her mother unlocked Gabby's door and started the car. As the car defrosted and the morning news played between them the silence became uncomfortable, and Gabby wanted to run screaming after her ex-classmate to get to the bus stop with him. Finally, Gabby's mother looked to her daughter and said, "It's just… You'd tell me if you were in any sort of trouble, wouldn't you?"

Though Gabby kept her gaze forward, she nodded. "Yeah," She said. The fact that Gabby couldn't look at her mother alerted both blondes that this, too was a lie.

Gabby knew that her mother thought that there was a reason why Gabby wouldn't trust her. As long as she could remember, her mother worked the twelve hour night shifts, which meant that her mother wasn't home at night and was either on her way home or sleeping when she got up for school in the morning. They spent some time during the weekend, but rarely ever were the two of them alone like this. It was usually her father who got her up and ready for school, her father who cooked dinner helped her with homework and watched TV with her at night. This wasn't her mother's fault, and Gabby never blamed her. She understood that night shifts made more money, and that her mother loved what she did. It was because of her somewhat that made Gabby want to help people as well, though not in the medical profession.

Gabby knew that her mother was wrong though. She just couldn't tell her what was happening. It had nothing to do with trust, and everything to do with loyalty to Barbara. It had nothing to do with her job or the fact that her father had been there more than her mother. It had nothing to do with any of that, and Gabby was at a loss for a way to let her mother know this. She knew that her mother was hurt by her silence, but her secrecy, but there was nothing she could say or do right now that would make it right.

~

Dinah paced back and forth in her room. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She looked at her alarm clock. Having been dressed for the last twenty minutes or so, she was now just waiting for time to turn. She wondered not only why she had asked Gabby to be her girlfriend but how this was going to work. With Gabby being who she was at night and Dinah being who she was at night, there really was no way that this could work, but Dinah wanted it to. It was the only thing she had ever wanted since she was about eleven years old and first had dreams of Gabby. She wanted to try for something - what, she wasn't sure, but she knew that friendship wasn't enough. For them to be together now, with Gabby on one side and Dinah on the other and neither one supposing to know of this, well, she just had to wonder what was going on.

Dinah could only think about the kiss though, the one that she had planted on Gabby at first for show, and then for herself. The kiss was everything she had thought it would be, everything she had longed for and more because it was real. If the images she had seen all her life of the other girl hadn't made Dinah fall in love with her, then she would have fallen head over heels for Gabby with just that one kiss, and in many, many ways, this scared Dinah. Still, she held on to the hope, to the small amount of hope that she felt, because Gabby in just an instant, had kissed her back. Dinah wasn't sure if she was also doing it for her mother, but if nothing else, Dinah got that one kiss, a kiss that felt real.

With those thoughts in her head, Dinah grabbed her keys and left the house. She bumped roughly into one of the goons on her way out, and the man only grumbled a curse at her. This made the metahuman grin as she continued on. She drove by Gabby's house but saw that there was no one there, and the car from the night before was gone as well, which told Dinah that Gabby must have gotten a ride from her mother to school. The snow started to fall lightly on her windshield and she did her best to hurry into school to get out of it. Surprising to her was the fact that Gabby was waiting for her just outside of her locker. "How did you know that this one was mine?" Dinah asked.

"I'm psychic," Gabby replied playfully. "I saw you stop here a few times," Gabby admitted a second later.

Dinah took a good look at Gabby and watched her. She saw the eye was considerably less swollen, and when the other girl had shifted from one foot onto the other, she noticed that she didn't seem to feel as much pain in her leg. Dinah felt better about the other night, even as some of the guilt remained. Gabby took two steps away from Dinah's locker to give the metahuman room, and Dinah went to work getting her books she needed for the first couple of classes so that she didn't have to come back in between.

"So you're gonna be here for lunch?" Gabby asked.

"Of course," Dinah said, trying to decipher the other girl's tone. "No dilly dallying in Bludhaven today." She pretended to pout, and Gabby smiled. After the deep-ish conversation she almost had with her mother, she was glad for this playfulness. Seeing Dinah was just what she felt she needed. Her heart pounded slightly, but Gabby pushed the thoughts of the kiss from her mind. Dinah closed the door to her locker just enough that it stuck, but not hard enough for it to slam, and then she stared at Gabby. "So.. uh, have you considered?"

"Being your girlfriend?" Gabby asked.

"Yeah."

"I didn't know you were gay," Gabby copped out.

"You didn't ask. Besides, there is more than just the two sexualities, aren't there?" Dinah asked.

"Touché," Gabby replied with a small shrug. Gabby and Dinah's eyes locked, the blues mingling together as if to say something to each other as their mouths said nothing. Dinah leaned so that her back was on her locker as this continued on.

"Look, we all have our secrets, Gabby," Dinah continued. "I just get the feeling that yours are deeper than my closeted love for VR Troopers."

"What?"

"Hey, that blonde chick looks like my mom sometimes. I can't help but watch it," she said somewhat defensively.

"No judgment here. You've seen my posters," Gabby said, holding her hands up in a time out.

"Oh yeah. But seriously," Dinah continued. Gabby nodded, knowing that she couldn't deflect this conversation any longer. "And whatever this secret is, I hope one day you can find the trust to tell me or at least…" Dinah shrugged.

"I guess the same goes for you too." Gabby said, "but how could we have any sort of relationship if there are secrets between us and we both are aware of them? How is that any sort of fair to either of us? Believe me when I say that I would give anything to be able to tell you - to tell my mother what has been going on but… I, I can't."

Dinah was silent for a moment before she looked away and said, "We could just be friends then, if you want to. At least until we find out that we're okay enough together to share those things with each other? After a kiss like that, though… I really don't want to be."

Gabby felt the flush to her cheeks and she also looked away. She finally reached down and touched Dinah's hand. "I don't either," Gabby admitted, "but I don't want to put you in that position. It just isn't fair. I'm sorry."

"I know," Dinah finally said, moving one of her blue streaks back behind one ear, "I know," she repeated. She sounded defeated and hurt, and Gabby felt even worse. Still the teens both knew that this was the right thing. "Friends it is, then," Dinah said. "That's me, at your side always."

Gabby blushed. She just couldn't help it. She wanted more than that, and it was clear from the blues in Dinah's eyes that she wanted this too. Damn her for having her responsibilities. "Dinah…" Gabby let out, but that was all. She reached out to grab the girl's hand. Her head felt fuzzy, and she hoped her headache wasn't coming back again. Dinah closed her eyes and seemed to shake a thought away before she squeezed Gabby's hand. At least the pain filled look seemed to dissipate somewhat, and Gabby was glad for that, if only so that her own guilt could ease up some.

With the hand that wasn't in Gabby's Dinah reached into her pocket. "Part of me knew this would happen, if I was honest with myself."

"You wanted me to say yes?"

"With all of my heart," Dinah answered easily. There was a pause. "Anyway, here. This is for you, but not when I'm around."

Gabby took the small slip of paper from Dinah, wondering what it was. She almost wished that she and Dinah could part ways just so that she could get to see what was on it. Dinah shifted her weight from one look to the other and seemed to be about to say something else when there was an interruption of the moment.

"Hey! Hi, hello. Hi. Hi, sorry to interrupt. Um, I was wondering if you could help me?" Gabby saw Dinah tense up in front of her. "My name's Melanie Freeman, and I am a T.A for Ms. Gordon. I… need to find her room?" the voice asked. Gabby turned around and came face to face with familiar eyes . The teen's eyes went slightly wide as she recognized the figure before her.

"I need to go now, Gabby," Dinah said from behind her. There was a look on Dinah's face that Gabby couldn't decipher when she turned to look at the streaked blonde girl.

"Okay. See you later," Gabby said. She reluctantly let go of Dinah's hand and watched as the other girl pushed her way past the new figure and down the hallways, where students moved away from her.

"Wow, sorry to interrupt-"

"What are you doing here, Huntress?"


	17. Chapter 17

"Hey kid," the woman known as Huntress said to Gabby. Though she didn't wear a mask in the night when she played with Batgirl, she seemed a lot different in the day. It could have something to do with the light blue sweater she wore with a pair of jeans and dark brown boots. It was a change from all the leather. "I needed to talk to Barbara about a few things. Seein' as she is avoiding me at night, I had to come to her in the day."

"She isn't going to be happy that you found her here."

"I know, but I don't know how else to talk to her. I saw you with that other little blonde and thought I would come and see how you're holdin' up. You look a lot better from that last time I saw you. You feelin' better too?"

Gabby looked surprised. This was the second time Huntress showed concern for her and they didn't even really know each other. It was this that made Gabby say, "Down the hall, 312, but I didn't tell you that."

"Tell me what?" Huntress asked.

"Exactly." A warning bell sounded and Gabby looked back. "Thanks for checking in on me, 'Melanie Freeman'. Tell Miss Gordon I'll be coming by after school."

"How can I when we never spoke?" Huntress asked.

"Touché'. Bye."

"Later Kid." Huntress watched as Gabby limped down the hallway, but stood straighter and walked painfully upright and slower so her limp showed once she passed a certain door. She narrowed her eyes at the man, who stood in the doorway watching her, but he waved to her in passing and Gabby returned the gesture. That seemed to be the end of it, but further down the hall, Gabby hurried, her limp visible again. Then, the teen turned a corner and was gone.

Huntress followed Gabby's directions and went down the hall to room 312. She was surprised to find that the redhead didn't have students in her classroom, but she was also relieved. She slipped inside and shut the door behind her. Barbara jumped when she turned and saw Huntress there, then her shoulders tensed and Huntress knew she had to talk fast. "I came to talk. Your secret's safe with me, I promise."

"What are you doing here?" Barbara asked thinly, her eyes steely as she looked Huntress up and down at the new outfit.

"I wanted to talk to you about what been going on in our... night life."

"Why don't you go ask your detective?" Barbara bit out.

"My De- Is that why you've been avoiding me? Are you jealous of him?"

"Absolutely not," Barbara said quickly.

"Liar. Look, there is nothing there with him, okay? I just talk to him to get information. I did it to help keep the city safe with you. If you think I am into him, you're wrong."

"Whatever you say, but I have a class coming in in about 10 minutes, so you need to leave."

Huntress took steps towards Barbara, but left a lot of room between them. "I am here because of you. I came back here because of you, and I am happy here... because of you. That won't change. I haven't been your problem for the last few days because I find more enjoyment fighting at you side than I did when fighting you, and I want to keep that."

Barbara was speechless, but the hard mask on her face didn't remove itself. Her mind whirred at light-years a second as it always did, but they centered over the woman before her and the words she spoke and how young she looked in the daytime. "Okay, well forget it," Helena said in a huff. "I'm gone."

"Who are you? In the day?"

"Helena. Helena Kyle, but something tells me that you already know that."

"I do. And I know you know me now, seeing as you're in my classroom."

"Yes, but I'd prefer to hear it from you."

"Barbara Gordon."

Helena took a few steps towards Barbara, still leaving space, but extending her hand towards Barbara, who took hers. Surprisingly, instead of a handshake, the younger woman placed a kiss on the back of her hand and said, "A pleasure to finally meet you. I hope to see you around." With that, the brunette was gone, and Barbara remained still minutes after she was gone.

Lunch with Dinah was a little bit awkward. Gabby found her right away in all of the lunchtime madness, but the girl barely smiled in a hello. Gabby felt bad again because she knew that the other girl must have been thinking about their talk that morning, but she had to stand by this. The two ate in silence for a while until about five minutes in, Dinah put her hand on the table, and gabby immediately placed her and over the other blonde's. They shared a look as gabby felt the fuzziness in her head again, and then went back to their lunches. It cut the tension a little bit. "I read your letter," Gabby said after a while of silence between them.

"Yeah?"

It was beautiful. Thank you."

Dinah wanted to say 'aaaaand?', but it looked like that was all she was going to get, so she shrugged to herself and said, "You're welcome."

Gabby made her way down the hallway at the end of the day. She was so glad that it was the end of the week. More than that, she was so glad that her winter break had officially begun. She had to stop at Barbara's classroom to say goodbye and to check up on her. Looking in the little window, she saw Barbara was getting a head start on grading papers, and her stack looked pretty high. The teen knocked on the door and watched as Barbara's face shot up. When she saw who it was, Barbara waved her in. Gabby opened the door slowly and let herself in. "You look guilty. I'm going to guess it was you who told Helena where I am," Barbara said, making a mark on a student's paper.

Gabby was a little confused by the name. She didn't know that Huntress' name was really Helena. "She was in the hallway with Dinah and me, Dinah left and then she said she wanted to check up on me since she saw me there."

"Well, don't stress. I'm not mad at you for telling. She would have figured it out if you hadn't told her. Her powers would have helped her, no doubt."

"What'd she have to say?"

"She wanted information from the night life. An update. I told her to ask the detective-"

"You didn't!" Gabby gasped out.

"She saw through me. She knows I'm jealous." Barbara told the teen the conversation with Helena, mostly because of the conversation they had a couple of days ago about being best friends despite the age differences. Gabby listened with an odd sort of look on her face, and when Barbara finished speaking, she was quiet for a moment.

"Man, Barbara. That sounds like the superhero equivalent to 'I love you' if you ask me."

"I was afraid you were going to say something like that," Barbara replied. She shut her eyes and seemed to shake away a thought. "I don't want to feel this way," she said, repeating her words from a couple of days ago. She then looked up. "You said that you were with Dinah this morning. How is that friendship going?"

It was Gabby's turn to sort of flinch, but she told Barbara about dinner with her mother the night before. When Gabby got to the part where Dinah touched her and Gabby felt dizzy, Barbara's face changed, but the teen couldn't figure out what it meant, as it shifted back so quickly. Gabby continued on, telling about the kiss and the talk they had that morning. Barbara stayed silent after Gabby was done, at first because she wasn't exactly sure if the teen was done, and then because she was surprised by all of the information Gabby had given her. She supposed she DID ask.

"So you're more than friends?"

"Um... It's complicated."

"Ah. We both know complicated. Speaking of, I wanted to let you know that I tested the device I was working on, and it works. I was even able to make a duplicated for both of our tool belts."

"I don't plan to go out there in the costume again," Gabby said.

"I know, but I like the idea of the suit being there, just in case."

Gabby groaned. "I don't even have a name for that character."

"You don't have to have one. That could be the best thing about it. It is seen so rarely that no one will ever know what to call the figure. Don't lie, you like the thought of it being there in case no one else is there.

Gabby didn't say anything at first. "It was a bit of a rush," she admitted.

"I know you're not a fighter, and I promise to do what I can so you won't have to go out there like that again, but I also promise to teach you the basics in defense in case something happens and you just have to, with or without the suit, okay?"

"So I'd be taking karate for real?"

"Kind of."

"Cool."

Barbara looked at the clock on the wall and then took her glasses off to rub her eyes. Gabby knew that her mentor was in for a long night, not just from the grading of papers, but she had to be Batgirl that night as well. The teen wished she could be Oracle that night to at least help make it better for her, but she knew that Barbara would want her to go to bed and rest. Plus, she had to trust that Alfred would do the job better that she ever could. "It's nearing 4:30. Are you going to need a ride?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. Go to the Northfield Boulevard tunnel and I will pick you up there and drive you home." Gabby was about to ask when Barbara said 'Loving Annabelle, remember?"

"Oh- right. See you in a bit." Gabby picked up her back pack and walked out of the door and out of the school. She didn't seem Mr. Brixton everywhere, and hated that the average but otherwise nice man had become more like a boogeyman to her. As Gabby made her way down the block a ways, she saw that the snow was starting up again, this time with larger snowflakes. Gabby was glad that she was getting a ride home. She stood at the corner of Northfield Boulevard and 42nd Street, where there was an entrance to underground Gotham City, where some people have dwelled after the earthquakes. Gabby found herself bouncing from foot to foot by the time she saw Barbara pull up beside her. The teen jumped in as quickly as she could and Barbara was quick in getting her home. You know the drill. Bed. Rest. Read. Get well." Barbara said as she got to Gabby's curb.

"Yeah, I know. Thank you for the ride Barbara. Will I see you before Christmas?"

"I think so, if only as Oracle. We can exchange gifts then if you like."

"Good, because I still have to get you a present." Gabby teased, but she was really still thinking on what to get someone like Barbara who had or could make anything he wanted already. Gabby then got out of the car and waved Barbara off. She watched her round the corner and was gone. Then she hurried into the house just in time to see her mother. She didn't look angry or upset, and Gabby greeted with a wave. "Sorry I am late getting home. I had to talk to a teacher after class before I didn't get a chance to because of the break."

"That's fine. What are your plans for the evening?" her mother asked casually.

"It is too cold to do anything more than to take a hot shower, changed into pajamas and long john, and watch V or read fanfiction. You?" Gabby asked.

"I have a 14 hour shift tonight."

"Fourteen hours? Dang. Are you going to be okay in the snow?"

"If I leave now, I should be. You're staying put?"

"I promise you, I am staying put."

"Alright. I put a frozen pizza in the oven. It should be done in a half an hour. I gotta go. Be good," Gabby's mother stressed. She kissed gabby on the forehead, grabbed her keys and went to the door.

Gabby wanted to say that in her shenanigans she's always good, but she nodded. Bye Mom. Have a good night." Gabby watched her mother leave, and then she headed for the shower. She gathered her clothes and took them in the bathroom with her, as was her habit. The shower, as she promised, was long and hot, and her whole body seemed to love her for it. As she soaped up and shampooed her hair, she thought about Dinah and what was going on between them. Even though they weren't together, they still seemed so close, and they still held hands. Gabby was certain that this would only confuse things between them, but she knew that both of them seemed to want and need that contact. If that line she tried to draw got blurred, she knew she would have to back away from it as much as she didn't want to but she had her responsibilities to think on, and she wasn't going to let Barbara down. Gabby dried and dressed quickly as it was cold, and then took her old clothes back to her room, and she stopped.

She felt the breeze even before she entered her room. Right away as she looked at her open window, she knew something was wrong. She hadn't opened it. It was snowing out there. She wasn't crazy! Gabby backed away a few steps, intent on calling the police, but she bumped into something. No. Not something, someone. Gabby stiffened, and slowly, she turned. She found herself face to mask with the mysterious figure she had fought the other night.


	18. Chapter 18

**This chapter has mature themes, which will bump up the rating to this story. If you don't like that, stop reading now or skip down about half the page.**

Batgirl looked out at the city from her vantage point. It wasn't the highest point in the city, which was that clocktower, but it was high enough. She could see the clocktower where she stood, and she considered it. It really was a beautiful building, especially when the sun glitters over the clockface. Barbara considered using some of the Wayne money left for her to use and change the location of headquarters, since she still felt strange using the Batcave without Bruce being there. She also felt it was time to do things a little more in her own right BECAUSE Bruce wasn't there. She was her own superhero now, with her own protégé' and possibly crime fighting partner. Why not branch out a little bit? She worried about the face that the Clocktower would be further away from Gabby's house than Wayne Manor, and considered imprinting her DNA into the Batbike so that she can leave to and from on it, but Gabby isn't too keen on the Batbike's speed settings. Barbara figured she would figure something out. She also worried about Alfred. He was stuck like glue to Wayne Manor, and she doubted he would move to the clocktower, but maybe he would still come by every couple of days, if only to check in on 'the girls'. Batgirl smiled at that.

There was suddenly a small thump beside her, but it didn't startle the superhero. She was by now used to the sounds Huntress made when she landed. "Good evening," Batgirl greeted.

"You're not still mad at me?" the other woman asked.

"No.

"Good, because I didn't understand all of that."

"I have a feeling you understood it all better than I did." Batgirl finally turned and looked at the dark woman, now back in the familiar leather. "I'm sorry i flipped."

"It's okay, but you really must know that I am here for you, not him. I only have eyes for you," Huntress said. Her voice dropped low to a purr as she continued, "And when I saw you in those sexy hot glasses, I knew that I could never have eyes for anyone else, Red."

Batgirl blushed, but there was some skin that Huntress could see turning red. The redhead turned off her comm. Huntress then started to speak, but the words were no longer flirtatious. "To prove it... My father- Bruce Wayne, and my mom are in Paris. They are happy there together- They really are. I liked being there with them, but once I came here to see the place he spent so much time protecting, and I saw you, I liked it here better. But my father has fallen ill. He has been for a while now, which might be why he suddenly left New Gotham. I don't think he wanted you to know, to watch him deteriorate. He told me... He told me that he was going to give me everything. My mother has everything she needs from her time as Catwoman, and can care for herself for the rest of her days, but he wanted to do something for me. I told him if he wanted to do something for someone, then to give the money to you. You're the only one left out here fighting for this city and you could use it more than anyone I know, so he promised he'd do that. Anyway, if you want me to relay a message to him, I will do that for you, but he doesn't need to know that you know where he is."

Batgirl was silent for a long time as she thought of this. Bruce was sick? Already she felt part of her life crumbling away from her. Bruce was the strongest man she knew. Maybe this was why he didn't want for her to know, and now... she wished she didn't know. "Thank you for telling me."

Huntress walked to Batgirl and put a hand on her shoulder. The redhead turned her body so that they shared an embrace. Huntress nuzzled into her a wrapped her arms tighter around Batgirls waist. "It's okay. He's going to fight until the very end, you know."

"Yeah, I know." Batgirl looked up at Huntress, her green eyes locking with slitted blue.

Then, Huntress leaned in and kissed the superhero in her arms. Batgirl didn't back away, and returned the kiss. it soon became feverish and quick. Hands roamed everywhere looking for a place to rest, when suddenly Huntress felt batgirl's fingers right at the top of her leather pants, her fingers brushing the exposed skin above it. She gasped when that hand slid inside, under the underwear and quickly finding the landing strip of hair. Then, a finger slipped between the fold and found her clit. Huntress bucked forward, and Batgirl's other arm wrapped tightly around Huntress' back to steady her. Then her lips seem to engulf Huntress' in a hungry kiss as her finger moved at a quickened pace.

"Don't scream," the metallic voice of the mysterious figure said. "I need your help."

"M-Me? I can't do anything. I'm just a girl!"

"I know who you are, Gabby Andrews, and I need you to help me speek to Batgirl."

"I can't do anything for you."

"You can, because you work with Batgirl-"

"You have me confused with someone else. I am just a girl!" Gabby said again.

"You're much more than that, and we both know it. I know it because you were the one I fought that night at the credit union."

"That couldn't have been me. I have been grounded for the last two weeks. I couldn't leave the house.

The figure's body posture seemed annoyed now. "Look, I thought the ones I was working with were working towards a cause that turns out not to be as good as I thought. I need Batgirl's help to stop it. Now, I know it was you I fought, because..." The figure hesitated and then she took off the vocal necklace, mask and wig, revealing the blue streaked blonde that gabby was getting to know. There was a pleading look on her face as Gabby took a few steps back, her side feeling the cold of the room, not only from the shock, but also from the window that was still open. "I have the power to see things if i touch someone. I can move things with my mind. I have this... sonic cry, and sometimes- and this is new- I have this blast from my hands. I didn't want to hurt you in the first place that night, but when I touched you and I saw who you were, I backed off a bit. I swear- I couldn't have known it was you, but I had to get that part. I thought that the machine would be used for good. She was going to take my powers away and make me normal. i thought that machine was going to take powers from people in Arkham to help them too... But I was wrong. Please. I need to speak to Batgirl. I need her help."

Gabby was still silent as she looked at the strange hybrid of her friend and the mysterious figure. She just didn't know what to think, what to say. Finally she summed her words. "You?"

"Me." Dinah said sheepishly. "I am sorry for the injuries i caused you."

"Oh, that's fine," Gabby said. "We both did what we had to do. I got a good hit on you, but you didn't show it."

"Metahumans all heal a little faster than other people do. I am not sure why that is. It was gone the next morning."

"Oh." Gabby bit her lip, and then she said, "Alright, I'll contact Batgirl."


	19. Chapter 19

Gabby, who was still in shock over what she was hearing, turned away from Dinah as her fingers went to her ear to call for Batgirl, but a beeping from the kitchen forced her to pause. She wondered what it was making that noise, and for the smallest of moments, thought that maybe Dinah had planted a bomb of some sort and had used her story to trick her, but then she remembered. "The pizza," she said softly, more to herself than the other figure in the room. She gave a small smile, which looked more like a wince to the other blonde, and then walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. She went to work putting on the oven mitts as she heard the softest of footsteps behind her. As she put the pizza onto the stove, she asked, "You have time for a bite?" The teenaged Oracle wasn't hungry herself anymore, but she thought she would ask regardless. Even so, she figured that Dinah's need to talk to Batgirl was urgent, and she was only really asking to fill the silence between them.

As expected, Dinah shook her head. "It smells good, but no."

Gabby nodded and then then, after taking the oven mitts off and hooking them back above the stove, she put her finger back to her comm. set and spoke in a somewhat of a murmur. "Batgirl?" There was the smallest of pauses before she heard the out of breath voice of her mentor.

[Yeah Oracle? What's going on?] Though the teen wouldn't see it, there was the a touch of concern on her face, knowing that Gabby was supposed to be resting, and Oracle sounded scared.

"You know I wouldn't hit you up right now, but something's come up."

[But how? You're nowhere near headquarters. What could have possible happened since I last saw you?] Barbara asked. She looked over to Huntress before her eyes quickly flickered away.

"I got a… visitor at home."

[Are you alright?] Barbara asked. She shifted so that her back was straight, and her face twisted into one of complete seriousness.

"Yes," the teen told her, "I'm fine. My… visitor needs to speak with you."

[Who is it?]

"Well-" Gabby said, hesitating. She wasn't sure if she wanted to use Dinah's real name or ask her friend if she had some sort of alias.

[Our mystery woman? The one you and Huntress both fought?]

"Yes," Gabby replied, relieved that she didn't have to make that decision after all.

[What did she say? Are you sure you're alright? How did she find you?]

At this Gabby smiled lightly. Barbara was concerned for her, considering her last encounter with the masked Dinah had been why she was supposed to be recuperating that evening. "Yes Batgirl, I'm okay. She knows me in real life, which is how she was able to find me. Anyway, she says that she has some information about the components to share with you - the plans for future use and whatnot. She thought one thing about those plans only to learn something different later. She thinks she's on the wrong side. I don't think I am explaining it right. Maybe she can do a better job of it. At any rate, she needs to see you ASAP."

[Alright, tell her I can meet her on the roof of New Gotham High. If she knows you in real life, then she may know you from there and will know how to get there. My ETA is about fifteen minutes.]

"Ours is a little longer on foot"

[You are not going anywhere,] Batgirl said sternly. [Have you forgotten-?]

"Oracle out." There was a beep in Gabby's ear that told her that the other line had gone dead as well. "She's going to kill me a little later, but…" The teen only shrugged and looked over to the other blonde. "New Gotham High's roof," was all she said then. Dinah nodded, and Gabby went about locking up procedures around the house, making sure to close and lock the window, and locking the door before the two of them left for their school.

The pizza forgotten, Gabby and Dinah made a rushed attempted to change into clothing that would, on Gabby's part be warmer than the pajamas she had sported out of the shower, and on Dinah, look less like she was out to rob someone. Snow began to fall in large flakes, making the world around them quiet save the breathing of the two teenagers. "Do you know a way onto the roof of the high school? Dinah asked after they made it to the subway station. "I'm still new," she seemed to want to explain.

"Yeah," Gabby responded after a moment's thought. It was a moment she didn't actually need, but she seemed to wonder if it was okay now to let Dinah into some of her more delicate secrets. Just because Dinah knew her relation to batgirl didn't mean she needed to know about Barbara's. "For emergencies and such," she added.

"Oh."

There was nothing else to say after that, it seemed. Dinah and Gabby each had their questions of course, but each knew that then wasn't the time and place for them. Gabby knew that she would learn more soon enough, and Dinah knew that she could get all the answers she needed whenever she wanted. She knew, though that if she did use her powers in that way, Gabby may never trust her, even if, she hoped she forgave her for being associated with Gotham city's biggest crime leader.

As promised, after a surprisingly short subway ride, Gabby lead Dinah around the New Gotham High School building, and to the back where the gymnasium was. She took a quick look around for the security guard before she moved aside one of the bushes and found the rock behind it. Under the rock was the key to the gymnasium, and Gabby made quick work at opening the door. Dinah knew to keep a look out while the other blonde did so. She then followed after Gabby, and the two teens went inside, past the locker rooms and towards the gym teacher's office. "Here?" Dinah whispered. In the dark, it still seemed to echo around the room. Dinah had never been in the gym longer than she had to be, but with the lights to the outside and the purple-grey of the snowy sky made it so creepy now. She almost wished for the two dozen bouncing balls and the shouting of the gym teachers.

"Mm," Gabby grunted in response. "There's a ladder leading up to the roof." She used the same key to open the door of the office and felt around on the wall. She wasn't sure what she was looking for at first until her fingers brushed against the light switch. She hesitated, debating on whether she should turn it on, but she couldn't see, and she had not thought to bring a flash light with her. "Memorize the room," Gabby said as she turned the lights on for a mental count of ten seconds. To her dismay, she saw no ladder, but there was something strangely familiar about one of the farthest walls. Like in the credit union, there were cracks in the wall, much like a door. But where would the number key be, and why hadn't Barbara ever told her the pass code for it? Then, just as her fingers flicked the light switch off, she saw it, a small… something near the floor. She bet she only needed to kick at it with her foot for the door to open or for the ladder to come down.

Gabby must have been still for too long after the lights went out again, because Dinah asked, Everything okay?"

"Yeah," Gaby said. "Come on." Having herself memorized the floor just after the lights went on, Gabby walked slowly across the office, feeling her way for the desks and drawers. Finally, she came to the opposite wall where the so called door was, and nudged the base of the wall. She had been right. There was a whirring, and the door opened up. It was lit by a single light to the back, but it showed clear as anything a ladder leading up. "Yes," the teenaged Oracle hissed. "Come on," she said again, and began to climb the ladder. At the top, she saw the latch and opened it easily. She was surprised when she got help from the other side.

"Gabby," she heard.

"Hey Batgirl," she said easily. A firm hand grabbed under her shoulder and she was lifted out of the small space she had been in. Once out and on her feet, she saw Huntress as well. "Huntress," she said in surprise.

"Kid," she responded in the same manner Gabby had only seconds ago. It was followed up by a nod. When Gabby turned to help Dinah as well, she found that Barbara was already lifting the metahuman out as well. When she saw the other blonde clearly, she stepped back in a move that only Gabby seemed to know the true meaning of. "Batgirl… This is my friend Dinah. Er- The figure I fought the other night." Gabby's eyes flickered from Batgirl to Huntress, and then back to her mentor. At the slight tenseness of the oldest woman's posture, she tried to hurry on. "Now, I know you're still upset about all of that, but she didn't know it was me. It's okay."

"Alright," Batgirl said after a moment to look Dinah over. She seemed to come to a decision. "Why did you need to speak to me, and why was it so important that you had to drag my friend away from her home, where she should be healing?"

'Oh Barbara, lighten up,' Gabby thought, but she said nothing as her eyes went to her side, where Dinah stood. When Dinah's blue met with Gabby's green, Oracle nodded. "Go on," she encouraged.

Dinah took in a deep breath and let it out. Gabby watched the mist leave her nose, which reminded her of a steam engine. "I want to say first off that I am very sorry for everything. I-I didn't know. Not everything." Dinah looked down as if to think over how she was going to start. "You know that I am a metahuman. What you don't know is that I used to be in Arkham Asylum. My therapist, Harleen Quinzell adopted me and I went to live with her. She knew how unhappy I was with my powers. It… It was why I was in Arkham, and I wanted to get as far from that place as possible. She said she knew of a way to make me normal, that she had a doctor friend who was sort of a specialist for metahumans-"

"Dr. Fairgreen," Barbara murmured. Gabby nodded. She remembered Alfred saying that was who invented a machine that would sever a metahuman's ability from the metahuman.

"Yes," Dinah said. She was surprised, but continued on. The only one out of the loop was Huntress, but she remained quiet and close to Batgirl without touching. "I assume you know all about him and The Metahuman Project then?"

"Somewhat. Continue," Batgirl replied.

"Yeah, well… My aunt made me believe that maybe she could make me normal. After starting high school she tried really hard to find her friend, since he dropped off the face of the planet after Batman left and the Metahuman Project went downhill. She when she found him, they began working on the machine again- Rebuilding it, and I thought I was going to be normal. There was just that one part, the one he had made so many years ago but didn't have blueprints to. I think they'd been destroyed. So I went and got it. Or I tried. Everything went weird and the idiots I was working with messed up. Not to mention there was you," she said, looking to Huntress. "I didn't know if she was with you or if she was on her own. She scared me, and I messed up too. Later that night, I knew Gabby was associated with you, but I didn't know who she was until after we had been fighting a bit and I touched her skin.

"I ran away from the credit union as soon as I could, and I gave the component to my aunt, and all was well, I thought. Today…" Dinah looked away again. "There was a new guy, someone who knew my aunt and the doctor from a long time ago, back when she and my… uncle I guess, were real bad guys. I bumped into him and read his thoughts. I found out that she had a different plan. It… It is fuzzy, but I got the gist of what she wants to do. She was going to take the powers from me- that much was true, but she had other plans. She wants to make us all this twisted family. Me without my powers, and her and Uncle J all living together somewhere."

"I don't understand. Uncle J?"

"I saw these images of her in red and black… And that guy… I think he was the Joker."

"Harley Quinn. Harleen Quinzell. I should've-" Batgirl shook her head and her gaze became severe. "What else did you see? What is she planning?"

"Sometime soon, she plans to test the machine. It is done. She wants to keep the city occupied while she goes to get my uncle- No, he is not my uncle, but for three years, all she ever talked about was my sweet uncle J and how much she missed him. If she is my aunt and he was coming back, it was always natural that he would be my uncle, and it is kind of hard not to think of him like that now, even if he is… him." Dinah shook her head. "She wants to create a diversion to keep you and you," she said nodding to Batgirl and Huntress respectively, "occupied while she gets him."

There was a silence. "Is that all?"

"I'm not sure how. I mean the machine, but I don't know whose power she plans to take and what she will do with it. I didn't know any of the other stuff. I knew she was going to make me normal and because all dealings related to metahumans was pretty hush-hush it had to be somewhat questionable methods to accomplish this, but… I didn't know that my uncle was him."

"If she was the one to get you out of Arkham Asylum and had been you therapist beforehand, she would know your powers and the ways around them. She must have been careful when in contact with you," Gabby offered. Gabby only nodded to this.

"So, no timeframe?" Huntress finally spoke up.

"I just know that it is going to be soon. As I said, that machine is finish and knowing her, she is eager to get him."

"Shit," Batgirl muttered. Gabby shifted from one foot to the other. With the snow still falling and the wind starting to pick up, she wished she was still at home.

"So what do we do?" Huntress asked. "What can we do with this information?"

"Well-"

The sudden sound of beeping made the redhead look to Dinah, where she searched herself at first for what was making that noise. She took out a cell phone and looked at it. She froze, and then when she looked up she smiled. Before either Batgirl Huntress or Gabby could say or do anything further, Dinah took steps towards Batgirl and brought her arm back. The crack to the jaw was like a canon in the otherwise silent night. As Batgirl stumbled back in shock, Huntress was in front of Dinah, shoving her back.

What… the hell?!" she asked, shoving her again. Dinah only laughed. Gabby frowned at this.

"So, Ms. Gordon, my literature teacher is the defender of this city. I really should have made that connection, considering the rumors about teacher and student relations." Then, Dinah hunched down, her eyes black, and rushed forward towards Batgirl, and then Huntress, who refused to let her near again. The two women then went on the attack, and Gabby knew that just like last time, it could have been somewhat disastrous.


End file.
